August 20, 1999. Copyright, 1999. Graphic News. All rights reserved

EMBARRASSMENT HINDERS CANCER CURE
By Margot Nesdale

LONDON, August 20, Graphic News: THE DEATH toll from bowel cancer Ð the silent killerÐ has reached frightening proportions in the Western world. 
Colorectal cancer is now the third biggest cause of cancerous death worldwide after lung and stomach cancer.
Researchers in Britain believe that early detection of the voracious disease is being hindered by public embarrassment over the symptoms and a lack of GP education and screening procedures. 
Bowel cancer has a strong foothold in both the U.S. and the UK, but survival rates are higher in America, due to earlier diagnosis.
The American Digestive Health Foundation has launched a national public awareness campaign promoting screening for the over 50s. 
In the U.S. more than 130,000 new cases are discovered each year, with 55,000 deaths from the disease. In the UK there are 30,000 new cases and 20,000 casualties.
The Cancer Research Campaign in London believes greater GP and public education about the disease is needed before a national screening programme.
Studies would have to be made to ensure screening was cost-effective and acceptable to the public, said spokeswoman Kate Law.
Colorectal cancer typically begins with harmless pre-cancerous polyps that develop on the inside of the colon wall. The cancer may grow undetected for years and by the time the symptoms are noticed it is often too late, because in a third of the cases, the cancer will have spread to the liver. Surgery is attempted in the remaining two-thirds of cases, but only half of the patients can expect a long-term cure.
One of the first symptoms of the disease is an inexplicable change in bowel movements (either constipation or diarrhoea) lasting for around 10 days.
Meanwhile American doctors say Thalidomide, a drug notorious for causing horrific birth defects, may prevent cancer tumours from growing blood vessels to feed themselves.
They also believe a popular cholesterol-lowering drug and higher levels of vitamin C intake lower the risk of getting colon cancer.
Obesity is also a risk factor for colon cancer in both men and women, according to Dr. Earl S. Ford, writing in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology. Given the Òhigh prevalence of obesity in the developed worldÓ he says, Òthese findings bode ill for future trends in the incidence of colon cancer.Ó

/ENDS.
Sources: Financial Times, Reuters