Bowel cancer screening programme could save up to 300 lives a year

A €6 MILLION investment in a national bowel cancer screening programme could save up to 300 lives per annum, according to an expert in diagnosing the disease.

Professor Colm O’Morain, Dean of Health Sciences at Trinity College Dublin (TCD), said that he believed the cost of saving a life was in the region of €15,000 to €20,000 and he considered it money well spent.

Prof O’Morain was speaking yesterday at the launch of the first annual report of the Tallaght Hospital/TCD colorectal cancer pilot screening programme, which detected 50 cancers in the Tallaght area.

Prof O’Morain, lead clinician in the study, said the pick-up rate of colonic polyps and colorectal carcinoma under the programme demonstrated its potential.

“The expertise gained from this programme has the potential to informdevelopments of any future national screening programme,” Prof O’Morain said.

As part of the study, 6,000 home test kits were issued to people aged 50 to 74 years in the Tallaght area. More than 2,500 people participated and returned the kits for checking at the hospital.

Analysis of the samples found approximately 10% tested positive for symptoms of bowel cancer. Of that 10%, 10% required surgery and approximately 30% could be treated for early cancer using a colonoscopy.

Sr Catherine Mulhall was one of those diagnosed with bowel cancer despite feeling in good health.

“I received an invite from the professor inviting me to participate and the result was there was a presence of blood in the stools. I was not presenting with any difficulties whatsoever, so this was quite a shock to me.”

Sr Mulhall is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed in January. She recommends those aged 50-74 take a bowel screening test as a precaution.

“If it had been six months down the line, I could have had secondaries, that’s what the consultant told me,” Sr Mulhall said, speaking on RTÉ radio.

Yesterday, the Irish Cancer Society (ICS) said the Tallaght study reinforced the urgent need for implementation of a national bowel cancer screening programme.

The ICS has already pledged €1m towards the rollout of a national screening programme. Prof O’ Morain said it could be done on a cost effective basis by using existing resources, as they did in Tallaght, by working on Saturdays.

Kathleen O’Meara, ICS head of advocacy and communications, said Ireland has the highest mortality rate for bowel cancer in western Europe and the screening programme “simply cannot wait until the Government’s finances recover”.

Health Minister Mary Harney has asked HIQA to develop a proposal for the rollout of a national screening programme within existing resources.

Approximately one in 24 people in Ireland will develop bowel cancer during their lifetime.