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This Week - B : Bowel Cancer

What Is Bowel Cancer

• Bowel cancer is cancer that's found anywhere in the large bowel, which includes the colon and rectum.
• The large bowel is part of your digestive system. It helps absorb water from your food and removes food waste from your body.
• How serious bowel cancer is depends on how big the cancer is, if the cancer has spread, and your general health.
• Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK.
• Bowel cancer screening can pick up bowel cancer early, which may mean it's easier to treat.

Main symptoms of bowel cancer

Symptoms of bowel cancer may include:

• changes in your faeces, such as having softer faeces, diarrhoea or constipation that is not usual for you
• needing to pass faeces more or less often than what's usual for you
• blood in your faeces, which may look red or black
• bleeding from your bottom
• often feeling like you need to pass faeces again even if you just have
• tummy pain
• a lump in your tummy
• bloating
• losing weight without trying
• feeling very tired or short of breath - these are signs of anaemia, which can be caused by bowel cancer

See a GP if:

Ask for an urgent GP appointment or get help from NHS 111 if:

Go to A&E or call 999 if:

Do not drive to A&E. Ask someone to drive you or call 999 and ask for an ambulance.

Bring any medicines you take with you.

Important

Some of these symptoms are very common and can be caused by other conditions.

Having the symptoms does not definitely mean you have bowel cancer, but it's important to get checked by a GP.

If your symptoms are caused by cancer, finding it early may mean it's easier to treat.

What happens at your GP appointment

The doctor will ask you more about your symptoms, general health, medical history, and if anyone in your family has had bowel cancer.

Depending on your symptoms, the doctor may feel your tummy and ask to do a rectal examination. This is where they put a gloved finger inside your bottom to check for any lumps.

You'll be asked to undress from the waist down for the rectal exam. You can ask for a male or female doctor or nurse.

You can ask for someone else to be in the room with you when the rectal examination happens.

You may be asked for a faeces sample (stool sample) for testing, or be given a home test kit called a faecal immunochemical test (FIT), to collect a small sample of faeces and send it to a lab. These check if you're bleeding from your bowel, which can be a sign of bowel cancer.

You may also be asked to have a blood test.

Referral to a specialist

You may get an urgent referral for more tests or to see a specialist in hospital if the GP thinks you have symptoms that could be cancer. This does not definitely mean you have cancer.

Find out more

• Cancer Research UK: seeing your GP about bowel cancer

If you want to find out more about this week's subject you can visit the Original article on the NHS website. If you are worried by any aspect of your health make sure you go and see your doctor or book an appointment at your local clinic.