Groundbreaking new test 90% accurate in finding patients at high risk of bowel cancer
Groundbreaking new test 90% accurate in finding patients at high risk of bowel cancer
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Doctors believe new test could lead to earlier diagnoses and more effective treatment for thousands of patients. Scientists believe a groundbreaking new test may predict patients at high risk of developing bowel cancer with 90 per cent accuracy. Research, published in the journal Gut on Thursday, could lead to blood testing for the thousands of Britons with irritable bowel diseases (IBD) ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s who were most at risk of developing bowel cancer, and help avoid some invasive procedures.
![[Craig Foster said it was comforting to know scientists could now help people like his wife Fariba, who died of bowel cancer last year]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/13/03/Craig-and-Fariba-Foster.jpeg)
There are about 500,000 people living in the UK with ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s, according to the charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK, and bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK according to Cancer Research UK. Director of the centre for evolution and cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research, Professor Trevor Graham, said most people living with those diseases would not develop bowel cancer as a result, but the options for those showing signs of pre-cancer were tough.
“Either they have it monitored regularly, in the hope that it doesn’t become cancer, or they have their bowel removed to guarantee they don’t get cancer in the future. Neither of these options are particularly pleasant,” he said. “Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis are common and we need better tools to identify the patients at highest risk of bowel cancer.”.
