Bowel Cancer Australia today launched the Never2Young CPD series, a range of GP educational activities to help overcome perceived age bias by people under age 50 diagnosed with bowel cancer.
 
The series was developed in response to requests from early-onset bowel cancer advocates and recent Australian research which cited the mounting imperative for GPs to receive more information and clinical guidance on early-onset bowel cancer specific diagnosis.
 

According to the latest AIHW National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP) Monitoring Report 2024 , there was a further decline in Program participation to 40% (2021: 40.9%).
 
6 million Australians aged 50-74 were invited to participate in the Program, yet 6-in-10 did not return their free bowel cancer screening test.
 

Bowel Cancer Australia and Icon Cancer Centre are helping to further close the care gap across Australia, with four new specialist Bowel Care Nurses appointed at Icon Cancer Centres in the following locations:
 
• Revesby, New South Wales
• Mackay, Queensland
• Windsor Gardens, South Australia
• Hobart, Tasmania
 

Bowel Cancer Australia has announced a team led by Professor Michael Samuel as the successful applicant for a three-year $600k early-onset bowel cancer research project through the 2023 round of Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS).
 
Professor Samuel of the Centre for Cancer Biology (an alliance between the University of South Australia and SA Pathology) and the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research will investigate ROCK-induced early-onset bowel cancer progression.
 

Bowel Cancer Australia along with co-chairs Mr Steve Georganas MP and the Hon Dr David Gillespie MP today launched the Parliamentary Friends of Bowel Cancer, a non-partisan forum for parliamentarians to meet and interact with Bowel Cancer Australia and discuss matters relating to bowel cancer.
 
The Group was formed following the inaugural 2023 Call on Canberra event where early-onset patients met with MPs and Senators.
 

According to a recent study published in The Lancet Oncology, a new screening test developed in the Netherlands may improve the accuracy of bowel cancer screening.
 
Researchers from the Netherlands have developed a test that they believe is more effective at detecting larger polyps than currently available stool tests.
 

A good bowel prep is essential to a good colonoscopy and critical to detecting bowel cancer or preventing it through the detection and removal of polyps.

In Australia, inadequate bowel prep is observed in around 7% of all colonoscopies. With more than 900,000  colonoscopies performed annually in the country, this can equate to as many as 63,000 inadequate bowel preparations leading to poor or cancelled colonoscopies.

In a phase 1 trial at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre (MSK), published in Nature Medicine, a new vaccine is being investigated as a potential off-the-shelf treatment in bowel and pancreatic cancer patients with a KRAS mutation.

“Having a vaccine that’s ‘off-the-shelf’ would make it easier, faster, and less expensive to treat a larger number of patients,” says gastrointestinal oncologist at MSK, Dr Eileen O’Reilly, who co-led the trial. “This gives hope for people with pancreatic and bowel cancer who have been out of effective treatments when their disease returns.”

Bowel cancer is the third most diagnosed and second deadliest cancer in Australia, yet people diagnosed with bowel cancer don’t receive the same level of support as those with other common cancers.

In the lead-up to World Cancer Day on Sunday 4 February, Bowel Cancer Australia and Icon Cancer Centre have announced plans to place specialist Bowel Care Nurses in select Icon Cancer Centres across Australia, offering greater support for patients with bowel cancer and helping to close the care gap.