bowel
What is bowel cancer?
- Bowel cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK.
- Each year more than 36,500 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the UK, that’s 100 people every day.
- Around half of people diagnosed with bowel cancer survive for at least five years after diagnosis.
- Five-year survival rates for bowel cancer have doubled over the last 30 years.
- Research suggests over 80% of bowel cancer patients will survive for more than five years if diagnosed at the earliest stage.
- Bowel cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK after lung cancer.
- Around 16,000 people die of bowel cancer each year in the UK.
- Bowel cancer death rates have been falling since the late 1970s. Over the last decade death rates have dropped by around 17%.
Bowel cancer is one of the most curable if detected early. With optimal treatment and surgery, more actual cures are possible than with all the internal cancers added together.
Bowel cancer is a high priority for the NHS in terms of screening and treatment and, combined with research, methods of diagnosis and treatment are continually advancing and survival rates have increased.
For information about the risks, signs and symptoms of bowel cancer, you may find these links useful:
