Bowelscan

Rotary Club of Runaway Bay Inc

Rotary and Bowean

Bowelscan is a community service project of the Rotary Club of Runaway Bay together with Rotary Clubs in Australia.

History of the Program

A surgeon member of the Rotary Club of Lismore, the late Dr N. E. Brand, was concerned that the incidence of bowel cancer and subsequent deaths were increasing, even though overseas research had shown that a significant number of cancers could be cured if detected early. In 1982, on Bill Brand’s initiative, the Rotary Club of Lismore developed the Bowelscan program as a Community Service project. In 1986 Rotarian Laurie Buckley brought the program to the Gold Coast. Since then, the program has spread across many regions of Australia, involving well over 300 Rotary Clubs in 16 Rotary Districts. Eight districts have established District Bowelscan Committees. In 1990, the National Bowelscan Committee, comprising representatives from the Districts operating Bowelscan programs, was established to develop and maintain protocols. Bowelscan is supported by Australian Rotary Health

What is Colorectal Cancer?

Colorectal cancer is the commonest internal cancer affecting both sexes in Australia and is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer related death. On average one in 19 Australian men and one in 27 Australian women will develop colorectal cancer by the age of 75 years. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is mostly seen in persons aged 40 years and over and from age 50 years its incidence rises sharply. Australia, like the USA, has one of the highest incidence rates of colorectal cancer in the world. The USA has already adopted colorectal cancer screening on a national basis. In Australia, there are about 11,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year and about 5,500 deaths from the disease. Colorectal cancer is an uncontrolled, malignant (destructive) growth of the mucosal (lining) cells of the colon (large intestine) or the rectum.

These cancer masses grow rapidly without regard to the usual control mechanisms of the body, invade local adjacent structures, may cause bowel obstruction or spread to distant parts of the body (metastases) where they may disrupt function of other organs such as the liver. Colorectal cancer frequently ulcerates and bleeds. Often microscopic bleeding is present long before the patient develops symptoms. This interval before any symptoms becomes evident is the period where screening tests for colorectal cancer are most indicated as it is the window of opportunity to effect the only known cure of the disease by resecting (surgically removing) the cancer. Regular (Bowelscan recommends yearly) screening of persons at risk provides the best chance of detecting the intermittent bleeding from these early cancers or polyps.

As with all cancers, colorectal cancer progresses in stages. In its earliest stages, colorectal cancer is one of the most curable cancers, with predictions of a 95% chance for a five year survival in stage 1, as opposed to only a 3% in stage IV. Bowelscan is a public awareness program seeking to increase community knowledge of bowel cancer and its symptoms as well as the distribution of faecal occult blood testing kits to facilitate early diagnosis.

Bowelscan aims

The aims of the Bowelscan program are to:

· enhance public awareness of the need of bowel cancer screening;

· promote and coordinate the Bowelscan program annually;

· emphasise the importance of bowel cancer screening for both men and women over the age of 40.

Bowelscan is a not-for-profit initiative. The successful operation of Bowelscan, and its accessibility to a wide range of people, is made possible by the voluntary support of a large number of pharmacies, pathology laboratories and Rotary members. We thank all involved for their contribution.

.The current Bowelscan program

Bowelscan is essentially a public awareness program seeking to increase community knowledge of bowel cancer and its symptoms and to distribute a simple FOBT test kit to detect the presence of blood in the bowel motion. It is a basic screening test only, not a diagnostic test, and people with a positive result are asked to consult their doctor for further examination. The program’s success is due largely to the support of shopping centres, CBDs and hundreds of pharmacies which distribute the kits as a service to the community, and pathology laboratories which test the kits at little or no cost. The program is conducted as a cost neutral project to minimise the price of the kits. Any excess funds are devoted to research projects. About 150,000 kits are distributed annually across Australia and over the years more than 1,500 people with bowel cancer and over 5,000 people with polyps (possible precursors to cancer) have been detected.