New test could mean bowel cancer patients avoid chemotherapy
Every year around 4000 Scots are diagnosed with bowel cancer.
Doctors have now said that half of those with stage three can be cured from an operation alone and that thousands are receiving unnecessary chemotherapy after their surgery.
A new UK study is being conducted to determine whether blood tests can detect cancer cells in an aim to reduce the number of people needing treatment.
The study will be carried out over three years by the London’s Royal Marsden Hospital with 1600 participants.
Dorothy Greene lost her daughter to bowel cancer in 2013 and now she is also battling the illness. She understands just how challenging chemotherapy can be on someone.
“It’s not nice going through chemotherapy,” she said. “It’s not a nice thing. There is a lot of hospital appointments and all that. Just affects your mind and everything, it affects you in every way.”
Bowel cancer is the second biggest killer of the disease in the UK and the risk of developing it increases with age.
The majority of people survive bowel cancer if diagnosed at an early age and it is hoped that this study will reduce the treatment time of those who have it.
Mrs Greene has fought through surgery and chemotherapy but says she understands why people want to continue treatment post-operation.
She added: “I would still choose to get chemo just to be certain it was gone, so there was no chance of any cells remaining.
“A lot of people would be the same but if these tests can really confirm it isn’t there then they will save many people from difficulties with chemotherapy.”
Mrs Greene knows how life-changing bowel cancer can be, firstly losing her daughter to it and now battling it herself.
For many, surgery is not enough to cure the disease but if this study works then then thousands can avoid unnecessary treatment.
