Bowel Cancer Screening Should Start at 25 for High Risk Groups
23 March 2009 - Scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) have discovered a genetic indicator that can detect whether relatives of bowel cancer patients are 20 times more likely to develop the disease than the general population. The research suggests these high risk people should be screened from the age of 25.
The study looked at 2,941 people with bowel cancer to see whether they carried bowel cancer genetic risk markers, using a test for microsatellite instablility (MSI) which establishes if the genetic self-repair system is damaged allowing cancer causing genetic mistakes to happen.
They discovered that if the tumours of a bowel cancer patient were MSI-positive and they were diagnosed at a young age, then their first degree relatives were up to twenty times more likely to develop the disease before the age of 70 compared with the general population.
Of the 2,941 patients on the study 344 were found to be MSI-positive. The risks for relatives of MSI-negative patients were modest.
The researchers hope that doctors can use these findings to better calculate the risks of bowel cancer for this high risk group and decide on appropriate screening. This will help them catch the disease early, when treatment is more likely to be successful. It may also help prevent the disease from developing in some patients
