PATIENTS from Westmorland General Hospital, Kendal, are taking part in a bowel cancer trial that could change the way the NHS screens for the disease.

The simple blood test designed to detect signs of the cancer at its earliest is being trialled by consultant surgeon Mr Georgios Sgourakis, who splits his time between Kendal and Barrow's Furness General Hospital.

Rosemere Cancer Foundation has given £28,163 to the trial, which will run until spring 2020.

Bowel cancer is the UK’s third most common cancer with about one in 20 people getting it in their life time.

The current national screening programme invites men and women aged over 60 to provide a stool sample for testing every two years up to the age of 74. It is screened for traces of blood invisible to the eye that could indicate polyps - benign tumours which carry a risk of becoming cancerous - and bowel cancer.

If blood is found, a colonoscopy is carried out so doctors can determine the cause.

Mr Sgourakis explained: “Colonoscopy is an outstanding tool for diagnosing potentially curable bowel cancer. It is superior to stool testing. However, it is an invasive procedure that is costly to the NHS and too many patients are undergoing it unnecessarily as it only picks up around four per cent of all early bowel cancers detected nationally.

“The aim of this trial is therefore to determine whether a new blood test that is looking for markers to indicate both polyps and bowel cancer at its very earliest can achieve a higher diagnostic performance than our current screening regime.”

The surgeon added: “Should this study prove to be successful, it will impose new standards in terms of screening with the blood test either as a stand-alone tool or complementary to what already exists.

“Detection of cancerous adenomas (polyps) at a very early stage may also prevent their development to invasive cancer and their removal during a colonoscopy instead of an operation will be the only measure needed to return a patient to full health.

"Additional benefits would be that more cancers will be detected at very early stages, reducing the need for chemo-radiotherapy to make a significant positive impact on patients’ survival and quality of life.”