What is Colorectal Cancer? | UHL NHS Trust

This videos gives a short overview about colorectal cancer. It explains useful facts and insight about colorectal cancer. Colorectal cancer is the fourth commonest cancer in the UK with over 40,000 diagnoses each year.

The majority of people are aged over 50 years, however bowel cancer can affect younger people and can run in families.

Most bowel cancers start as pre-cancerous growths or polyps which over time grow before becoming a fully established cancer. This process can take 2-3 years.

Colorectal cancer can spread to other parts of the body such as the lymph nodes, liver or lungs. Colorectal cancer can present in different ways, such as tiredness, weight loss, or a prolonged change in bowel habit. Bleeding from the back passage is also a possible symptom.

The majority of patients with rectal bleeding don’t have cancer but some will. The national bowel screening program attempts to detect blood in the stool to select people for further investigation.

If your GP is concerned about bowel cancer, they may order a faecal immunochemical test (known as a FIT test) which detects microscopic levels of blood. Occasionally cancers are detected by coincidence on other routine tests.