Bowel cancer sees greatest impact from early diagnosis

While all cancers would benefit from earlier diagnosis, bowel cancer, as well as kidney cancer, sees the greatest impact. Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis can increase the risk of bowel cancer in some people, particularly for those whose condition affects all or most of their large bowel.

The good news is that only a small number of people with Crohn’s or Colitis will develop bowel cancer and the numbers have been declining in recent years. 

People living with bowel cancer (also known as colorectal cancer) have an overall net-survival of 59.1% (the survival of cancer patients compared to the general population) for the 5 years following diagnosis. At stage 1 (the earliest stage) this is 93.4% and at stage 4 (the latest stage) this is 10.7%, showing that earlier diagnosis leads to better outcomes. 

Regular checks are recommended for people with Crohn’s or Colitis, particularly those at risk. The importance of this has been identified in the 2019 IBD Standards, which set out what good treatment and care should look like for people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). 

The IBD Standards follow the patient journey which includes a section about ongoing care and monitoring. Within this, statement 7.8 specifically relates to screening, and says: ‘A mechanism should be in place to ensure that colorectal cancer surveillance is carried out in line with national guidance and that patients and parent/carers are aware of the process.’ 

This means that for people living with Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's Colitis involving more than one segment of colon, screening colonoscopies should begin 10 years after diagnosis and be repeated every 3-5 years unless there are risk factors, such as a family history.  

More information on bowel cancer can be found in our Bowel Cancer information sheet.