People under the age of 50 who are diagnosed with bowel cancer are not being tested for Lynch syndrome in 29% of hospitals around the country. Lynch syndrome is an inherited disorder, and testing for it helps detect those at greater risk of recurrence, helps inform treatment options, and identifies those with family members who may also be at risk of bowel cancer.
In 2014, the Royal College of Pathologists changed its guidance to make the testing of bowel cancer patients for Lynch syndrome mandatory after diagnosis. But research conducted by Bowel Cancer UK and the Royal College of Pathologists and released on Monday shows that this advice is not being followed.
The percentage of hospitals that tested younger bowel cancer patients for Lynch syndrome varied across the UK. In Northern Ireland, 100% of hospitals that responded to a freedom of information request were conducting the screening. In Scotland, 93% of hospitals were offering the screening. This fell to 69% in England and just 29% in Wales.
Even in those hospitals that did carry out the test on younger patients, only 56% did so automatically, without prompting from the multi-disciplinary team, in accordance with the guidelines.
These numbers were an improvement on the first time such data was requested. In 2015, Bowel Cancer UK issued FOI requests to all hospitals across the UK and discovered that only 49% were testing patients under the age of 50 for the syndrome. This has increased to 71% in 2016.
Bowel cancer is the UK’s second biggest cancer killer and the fourth most common form of cancer. While most of those diagnosed with bowel cancer are over the age of 50, more than 2,400 people under 50 are found to have the condition each year, and there has been a 25% increase in the number of under-50s diagnosed with the disease in the past 10 years. Sixty per cent of people under the age of 50 diagnosed with bowel cancer are diagnosed in the later stages of the disease, when the chances of survival are lower.
Asha Kaur, policy manager at Bowel Cancer UK, urged hospitals to work together. “The guidelines have now been in place two years and there are still 40 hospitals in England alone not doing the test at all, plus a huge variation in approach to testing across the UK.”
Kaur urged those with a family history of Lynch syndrome or a family history of bowel cancer to go to their GPs and ask about testing for the disorder.
Source :https://www.theguardian.com/
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