HEALTH experts are urging Wyndham residents to use free bowel cancer screening tests as new research shows the municipality has the second-lowest completion rates in Victoria.
Adelaide University figures reveal 32.6 per cent of eligible residents in Wyndham had completed the kits, sent by mail as part of the federal government’s national bowel cancer screening program.
Hume had the lowest completion rate (31.8 per cent).
Both rates were well below the state average (37.1 per cent).
As part of the program, free screening tests are sent to men and women aged 50, 55 and 65. It will expand in the next few years to include 60 and 70-year-olds.
Cancer Council Victoria screening programs manager Kate Broun said the simple test was one of the best early ways to identify bowel cancer.
She said that in most cases bowel cancer started as a growth in the lining of the bowel called a polyp. The test is designed to find bleeding in a bowel motion caused by polyps. This bleeding can be invisible to the human eye.
“In its early stages, bowel cancer often has no visible symptoms – it means many healthy men and women across Victoria could have bowel cancer and not know it,” Ms Broun said.
She said catching bowel cancer in the early stages gave people the best chance of survival.
“In 90 per cent of cases, bowel cancer is curable if it’s detected early.
“If it’s left until symptoms appear, such as looser or more frequent bowel motions, bleeding after going to the toilet, stomach pains, constipation or fatigue, it can be much harder to treat successfully.”
