The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) is expanding – a move that could save up to 500 lives each year.

Over the next five years the screening intervals and ages for the program will change and by 2020, all Australians aged 50-74 will receive, in the mail, a free screening kit every two years. The expansion began on 1 January 2015 with the addition of two new age groups, 70 and 74 year olds.

Cancer Council Australia’s Director of Public Policy, Paul Grogan, said bowel cancer screening is one of the most effective, life-saving public health measures available to Australians aged 50 to 74.

“Bowel cancer is the second-deadliest cancer in Australia – a tragic irony given that it’s also one of the easiest cancers to treat if detected early,” Mr Grogan said. “Around 10 Australians die of bowel cancer every day, yet 90 per cent of cases can be cured if detected early. Symptoms often only appear at a late stage, which is why screening is so important.

“Right now, tens of thousands of Australians are getting around in apparent good health, with no idea that there’s an early-stage bowel cancer or precancerous polyp growing inside them.

“Screening can detect those early-stage cancers or polyps when they are relatively easy to treat. The Cancer Council supports the NBCSP and urges Australians who receive their bowel cancer screening kit in the mail to complete the test and send it off for analysis. The test is simple to use, free and can be done in the privacy of your own home.”

Unfortunately, not enough eligible Australians are taking advantage of this life-saving program.

Prominent sports administrator, Eugene Arocca, 54, understands the importance of early detection and wants to encourage people not to put screening off.

Eugene was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2014 and believes his story would be different if he had used his NBCSP kit when he received it.

“When I received my free screening kit just after I turned 50 I ignored it,” Eugene said. “I’m not sure whether it was because I thought the whole process was going to be too hard or whether it was just plain laziness.”

Bowel cancer does not receive the same publicity as other cancers. But bowel cancer is the second largest cause of cancer deaths in Australia. More importantly though, it is one of the most treatable cancers if it is diagnosed early enough. Eugene says he knew neither of these facts when his kit arrived in the mail.

“I chanced fate. It was four years after receiving the kit and putting it aside and two years after putting off a colonoscopy recommended by my GP, that I was diagnosed with bowel cancer. I was told that one of the polyps removed was malignant and there was a chance it had spread to my lymph nodes.

What followed was major surgery to remove a section of my bowel and surrounding lymph nodes. I was fortunate that the cancer had not spread,” Eugene said.

“My message is clear. Bowel cancer screening saves lives. When you receive your kit don’t put it off. I rolled the dice and it could have cost me my life.” The expansion will be implemented in phases over a five year period between 2015 and 2020:  70 and 74 year olds have already commenced screening  72 and 64 year olds added in 2016-17  68, 58 and 54 year olds added in 2017-18  66 and 62 year olds added in 2018-19  56 and 52 year olds added in 2019-20.

For more information visit Australia.gov.au/bowelscreening

About NBCSP

The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program was introduced in 2006 and provides free screening to eligible Australians from 50 years old. Since the NBCSP commenced, survival rates for bowel cancer have increased in recent years. The program resulted in the detection of earlier stage cancers which lead to an increased survival rate over five years, from 48.0% to 66.2%.

• 600 MORE BREAST CANCERS TO BE PREVENTED THROUGH EARLY DETECTION

Women aged 70-74 will be now be invited to participate in regular, free mammograms following the Australian Federal Government’s announcement to expand the National Breast Screening Program.
As of January 2015, the Australian Government is extending the invitation for free breast screening from 50-69 years of age to include women up to 74.

“Ageing is the strongest risk factor for breast cancer, with 3 out of every 4 women diagnosed with the disease aged 50 years or over,” says Cancer Australia CEO, Professor Helen Zorbas.

“Screening mammography is the best early detection test available to reduce deaths from breast cancer. Women over 69 will now be actively invited to continue their participation in the BreastScreen program. The program’s extension will deliver up to 220,000 additional screening services over four years, which has the potential to detect an additional 600 breast cancers a year,” she said.

Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in Australian women, after lung cancer, but with early detection, treatment and management up to nine out of 10 women will still be alive five years after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Sally Crisp, breast cancer survivor, knows first-hand how early detection can save a life and thanks the BreastScreen Australia program.

“For peace of mind, I’ve always been good at keeping up with my regular screening appointments even after I stopped receiving the reminder letters. I’m so thankful I kept up the habit, as regular screening was the reason the cancer could be detected early”.

“I think it’s fantastic that the government has extended the programme to women in their early 70s, as having a regular breast screen is so important, in my case, it saved my life.”

One in eight Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. It is estimated that by 2020 over 17,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer every year in Australia.

BreastScreen Australia aims to reduce illness and death resulting from breast cancer through organised screening to detect cases of unsuspected breast cancer in women and enable early treatment.

“In Australia, we have among the best breast cancer survival rates in the world. The earlier the cancer is found, the better the chance of treatments being effective and improving survival from this disease,” Professor Zorbas said.

For further information, please visit australia.gov.au/breastscreen.
Ashley Mawer