Test may cut bowel cancer risk by 33%

A ONE-OFF screening test could cut the risk of developing bowel cancer by a third and save thousands of lives every year.

A published study of men and women aged between 55 and 64 who underwent an examination of the lower colon and rectum showed a 43% cut in the death rate for bowel cancer with the incidence of the disease falling by a third.

The research, involving 170,432 men and women and published online in The Lancet journal, was drawn from those patients who underwent sigmoidoscopy, where a camera mounted on a thin, flexible tube is inserted around a third of the way into the bowel.