Annual Bowel Cancer Screening, The New Skin Check
Are Bowel Cancer Checks the New Skin Checks?
In New Zealand, most people understand the importance of checking their skin.
We live under intense UV exposure. We know melanoma is common. My patients accept that an annual skin check is sensible, responsible and preventative, they never have a problem paying $200 for an annual skin check.
But when it comes to bowel cancer screening, particularly annual FIT testing, there is still hesitation.
That difference is interesting.
You Can See Your Skin. You Cannot See Your Bowel.
Skin cancer feels tangible. You can see a mole change. You can watch something grow. It feels real and visible, Your bowel is different. You cannot see inside it. You cannot monitor it visually. You cannot check for subtle changes in the same way psychologically. Bowel cancer feels more distant, and yet, from a medical perspective, that is exactly why screening matters.
If you cannot see something, you need another way to monitor it, that is what the FIT test does.
The FIT Test
The Faecal Immunochemical Test, or FIT test, detects microscopic blood in the stool. You cannot see this blood. And often there will be no symptoms at all, this microscopic blood can be one of the first detectable signs of bowel cancer.
By the time you develop symptoms a few months or years later, things can be too late. And we know that when it comes to bowel cancer the earlier it is diagnosed the easier it is to treat.
Annual FIT Testing vs Colonoscopy
There has traditionally been a belief that colonoscopy is the gold standard and anything else is inferior.Colonoscopy is an excellent test. But it is invasive, expensive and resource intensive. It also carries small but real medical risks
Evidence has emerged suggesting that regular annual FIT testing can be comparable to colonoscopy based screening in reducing bowel cancer mortality, when done consistently.
Prevention Is About Consistency
An annual skin check works because it is repeated. The same principle applies to bowel screening. A single FIT test is useful, but abbual FIT tests are extremely powerful, thats why we have introduced an annual FIT Bowel cancer screening membership. This is a game changer a it takes the hassle out of the process, just. sign up and a bowel cancer screening test will be delivered to your door every year.
