Bowel scope in colorectal cancer screening

Bowel scope screening is a new part of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme and is being rolled out across England from 2013

• involves once - only flexible sigmoidoscopy for all men and women around the time of the 55th birthday
• everyone will still be invited to take part in Faecal Occult Blood testing every two years from the age of 60y
• anybody 55-59 can self-refer if their GP practice is live and they missed the invitation, the interested person should call 0800 707 60 60 to check their eligibility (1)

Risks of procedure:

• minor rectal bleeding after the procedure may occur but about 1 in 3,000 have serious bleeding needing hospital admission
• a very small risk of bowel perforation (about 1 in 30,000)

Benefits of bowel scope screening:

• key benefit of bowel scope screening is prevention of colorectal cancer
  • bowel scope screening was found to reduce the incidence of colorectal cancer over 11 years' follow up from 5 in 300 to 3 in 300 in a UK randomised controlled trial
    • ie 2 cases of colorectal cancer are prevented for every 300 people screened
• reduces colorectal cancer mortality
  • reduces colorectal cancer deaths over 11 years' follow up from 2 in 300 to 1 in 300
    • ie 1 colorectal cancer death is prevented for every 300 people screened

Reference:

• http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/bowel-cancer-screening/Pages/bowel-scope-screening.aspx
• Atkin WS, Cook CF, Cuzick J, Edwards R, Northover JM, Wardle J (2002). Single flexible sigmoidoscopy screening to prevent colorectal cancer: baseline findings of a UK multicentre randomised trial. Lancet 359 (9314) : 1291 - 300.