Bowel cancer: NHS announces major change to screening in England

NHS England is to lower the detection threshold for a home screening kit to trigger bowel cancer screening from next month in a move it says will lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment for thousands of people.The faecal immunochemical test (FIT) is offered to all people over 50 to check for blood in a small stool sample as a possible sign of bowel cancer.The detection threshold of the test that triggers an urgent cancer test with reduce from 120 µg of blood per gram of stool down to 80.This move, which follows recommendations by the UK’s National Screening Committee,1 brings England in line with the threshold currently used in Scotland and Wales.NHS England said lowering the threshold will result in the NHS offering 35% more screening colonoscopies a year to help diagnose or rule out bowel cancer.It estimates that the change could help detect about 600 more bowel cancers early…