Bowel cancer diagnoses in under-50s could be speeded up with new tool

Around three in five people under 50 who are diagnosed with bowel cancer do not have their symptoms recognised until they reach later stages of the disease – hampering their chances of survival.

Charity Bowel Cancer UK, with the University of Exeter, Durham University and University Hospital of North Tees, launched a risk assessment tool to help GPs identify the symptoms of serious bowel conditions like bowel cancer, or less serious but more common conditions like IBS, for patients under 50.

The charity said the tool is the first of its kind and could help speed up diagnosis among young people who frequently face life-threatening delays to diagnosis.

The assessment tool calculates the risk of the patient’s bowel symptoms allowing the GP to decide whether they need further tests.

Across the UK, 2,500 under-50s are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year, a 45 per cent increase since 2004

And 13,000 people are diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease, many of whom are under 50.

Bowel Cancer UK said symptoms of these conditions are common and account for one in 12 GP appointments.

But it added family doctors can face difficulties in deciding which patients should be referred for further tests because many symptoms are not caused by cancer.

As a consequence, young people often face a delay in their diagnosis, reducing their chance of survival significantly.

The new tool, details of which have been published in the British Journal of General Practice, predicts a patients risk.

Depending on their risk level, GPs can then choose which course of action to take – whether patients need an urgent colonoscopy, another test to show whether there is inflammation in the bowel or whether no tests are needed.

Deborah Alsina, the chief executive of Bowel Cancer UK, says: “As the numbers of under 50s affected by bowel cancer and bowel disease continues to rise, research is fundamental in finding better ways to diagnose people early when treatment is likely to be more successful.

“Delayed diagnosis is all too common for young patients with both bowel cancer and inflammatory bowel disease.

“Therefore, finding quicker, more effective ways to identify and diagnose these patients earlier is crucial.

“Our research shows that one in five young patients have to visit their GP five times or more before they get their diagnosis and this is simply not acceptable.

“This important research has the potential to help GPs to decide which of their young patients need a referral for further tests and which have less serious bowel conditions.

“However, this is just the start. The next step is to ensure that all GPs across the UK have access to this potentially life-saving tool as part of their day-to-day practice”

Lead researcher Willie Hamilton, professor of primary care diagnostics at the University of Exeter Medical School, said: “The risk assessment tool should be used as a reminder to GPs to consider the likelihood of an individual patient having a serious bowel condition given the symptom or combination of symptoms they present with.

“The tool does not replace clinical judgment but provides more information to base a referral decision.”