People In Tallaght Are Urged To Use Bowel Cancer Test Kits
Last batch of FIT kits are sent to homes in Tallaght area as second round of screening programme comes to an end.
Tallaght Hospital was the first hospital in Ireland to provide a Bowel Cancer Screening Programme for men and women between the ages of 50–74.The second round of the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme is now coming to an end. Tallaght Hospital wishes to encourage members of the public who have received the test kits (FIT) in the post to complete the test in their homes and return it to Tallaght Hospital for analysis by the end of December. The FIT test can be carried out very easily and is used to detect tiny amounts of blood, often released from bowel cancer or polyps into the bowel motion. Participants are asked to provide two samples from two separate bowel motions.
Bowel cancer is the third most common type of cancer after breast and lung. So far, 1876 people have taken part in the second round of the screening, with 170 people testing positive. This is a 9% positivity rate overall. Once a patient tests positive they go on to have a colonoscopy in Tallaght Hospital. To date 122 colonoscopies have been carried out on those who tested positive. The final results of this second round will be published shortly.
Incidents of bowel cancer are on the rise and early detection is vital. Mrs Marie Barnes, who previously participated in the programme, said of her experience, ‘I had no sign or symptoms, nothing. I was the perfect candidate for cancer without even knowing it. I thought I had the perfect bowel. If it wasn’t for the Bowel Screening Programme, I would never have known. I owe my life to them.’
The Tallaght Hospital-TCD Bowel Cancer Screening Programme has demonstrated the importance of formal approaches in developing and implementing cancer screening programmes. The expertise gained from this programme will be particularly crucial in the commencement of future country-wide colorectal screening programme.
Bowel cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the second largest cause of cancer related death in Europe. Approximately 1 in 24 people in Ireland will develop bowel cancer during their lifetime and more than 900 people die from colorectal cancer each year.
ENDS
Laoise O’Murchú, Communications and Public Relations Manager, AMNCH : Tel: 01 414 5918 or (087) 2802840.
Notes to Editor:
The FIT test is a simple test and participants carry out the test using a kit in their own homes and returned a sample to the hospital for analysis. The test detects tiny amounts of blood, often released from bowel cancers or polyps into the bowel motion (faeces). To increase the chances of detecting tiny amounts of blood in the bowel motion, participants provided samples from two separate bowel motions. Because the test involves taking separate samples, it is not practical to do the test at a doctor’s surgery.
