Dr Hilary Jones discusses bowel cancer awareness acronym

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Cancer Research pointed out that 45 people die every day from bowel cancer in the UK. To avoid becoming part of a statistic, visit your doctor if you identify with any of the following symptoms. The charity noted that “a lump” in the abdomen area, usually on the “right side”, could be a warning sign of a cancerous lump. There may also be a lump inside of the back passage, on the right side, that a gloved doctor would be able to feel.

While the latter check can only be done once you are in the doctor’s practice, there are many other indications of bowel cancer.

Possible symptoms include:

• Bleeding from the back passage (rectum) or blood in your poo
• A change in your normal bowel habit, such as looser poo, pooing more often or constipation
• A feeling of needing to strain in your back passage (as if you need to poo), even after opening your bowels
• Losing weight
• Pain in your abdomen or back passage
• Tiredness and breathlessness caused by a lower than normal level of red blood cells (anaemia).

Expanding on these symptoms, Cancer Research UK highlighted that rectal bleeding from a cancerous tumour will not be bright red.

Instead, it will either look “dark red or black”, and can possibly cause bowel motions to look like tar.

Rectal bleeding could also be a sign of a stomach ulcer, but only a medical overview can confirm the root cause.

Guts UK added that “an increase in the amount of mucus in the stool” is one of the “most common symptoms” of bowel cancer.

“Achieving a complete cure of bowel cancer usually depends on detecting it early on,” Guts UK noted.

“And if people wait too long before reporting symptoms, the opportunity to remove the cancer completely may be lost.”

How bowel cancer develops

The charity explained that throughout a lifetime, the lining of the bowel constantly renews itself.

“This lining contains many millions of tiny cells, which grow, serve their purpose and then new cells take their place,” the charity elaborated.

Each of these cells contain genetic material that instructs the cells on how to behave.

If a gene becomes faulty, the cell may grow too quickly, which can lead to a formation of a polyp.

“We believe that all malignancies of the bowel probably start off as benign polyps,” said Guts UK.

“In some polyps, the instructions that the genes give the cell on how to grow become increasingly disordered.

“When this happens, the cells grow so quickly and in such a strange way that they grow not just on the lining of the bowel but start to extend through the wall of the bowel.”

Such a move is where the benign polyp turns cancerous (i.e. malignant).

Around one in 10 polyps are said to turn into cancer, which is why large polyps are usually removed if found.

Polyps may bleed, which is why bowel cancer screening tests for blood in your stools.

Home tests are routinely sent out to patients from the age of 60. Cancer, however, can develop before this age.

This is why it’s crucial to know what is normal for you and to tell your doctor if any symptoms have been emerging.

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