Thousands more people across Scotland will benefit from the roll-out of a new and easier screening test to detect symptoms of bowel cancer. The Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) requires participants to collect one bowel motion sample, rather than the current test which requires samples over three days.
Research suggests FIT’s ease of use will encourage more people to take part in the programme. The test is being offered to all men and women in Scotland aged 50 to 74, every two years.
Visiting the Scottish bowel screening lab in Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Early diagnosis is crucial to saving lives. More than 90% of bowel cancer cases can be treated successfully, if diagnosed early. “This new test will help us to better treat bowel cancer, Scotland’s second largest cancer killer with 1600 deaths every year.
“The new test is easier to use than the previous process and this will increase the number of people completing screening. This will enable us to detect more conditions at an earlier stage, helping more people to beat bowel cancer than ever before.”
Bowel cancer (or colorectal cancer) is a major public health problem in Scotland, which has a higher rate of bowel cancer than most other countries in the Western world. In Scotland it is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in both men and women with approximately 3,700 new cases diagnosed in 2015. 95% of cases occur in people aged over 50 years. Over the last 10 years, bowel cancer incidence and mortality rates (2005-2015) in Scotland have decreased in both sexes.
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