Hi Tempest and thank you for your post.

The bowel screening programme invites people with no symptoms to do the bowel cancer screening test to look for hidden blood in the stool, which if found, could be a sign of bowel cancer. The aim is to find cancer early.

The stool sample is sent to the laboratory and given a number. The result of the FIT (faecal immunochemical test) which will mean further tests are needed in bowel screening, depends on where you live.  For example in England and Wales, this is 120 μg/g, and in Scotland 80μg/g.

The level is different if people have gone to their GP because of symptoms they may be having where anyone with a FIT test above 10 is referred for other tests.

You can still do the bowel screening test with bleeding haemorrhoids and this certainly wouldn't be wasting anyone's time. This may cause a positive FIT ( faecal immunochemical test) meaning further testing is needed. However, you can have haemorrhoids and have a negative test.

Unfortunately, if a FIT is positive no one can say if this is caused by haemorrhoids or if it is because of polyps or cancer.  Therefore further tests are needed such as a colonoscopy so that the bowel can be looked at closely to rule out cancer.

Although you had a sigmoidoscopy a couple of years ago if you are found to have a positive FIT, the doctor is likely to still recommend a colonoscopy to be safe as this looks at the whole of your bowel, the sigmoidoscopy just looks at the rectum and the lower part of your bowel.

You mention your family history. When cancer is in the family, people often assume that this greatly increases their risk of developing it, but this isn't always true. It will depend on how close relatives are (parent, child or sibling) and the age of diagnosis.  We have further information about family history and the risk of bowel cancer on our website here.

I hope this reply helps in some way. Please get back to us if you need any more information or support.  You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Take care, all the best 

Jemma

Hi Tempest and thank you for your post.

The bowel screening programme invites people with no symptoms to do the bowel cancer screening test to look for hidden blood in the stool, which if found, could be a sign of bowel cancer. The aim is to find cancer early.

The stool sample is sent to the laboratory and given a number. The result of the FIT (faecal immunochemical test) which will mean further tests are needed in bowel screening, depends on where you live.  For example in England and Wales, this is 120 μg/g, and in Scotland 80μg/g.

The level is different if people have gone to their GP because of symptoms they may be having where anyone with a FIT test above 10 is referred for other tests.

You can still do the bowel screening test with bleeding haemorrhoids and this certainly wouldn't be wasting anyone's time. This may cause a positive FIT ( faecal immunochemical test) meaning further testing is needed. However, you can have haemorrhoids and have a negative test.

Unfortunately, if a FIT is positive no one can say if this is caused by haemorrhoids or if it is because of polyps or cancer.  Therefore further tests are needed such as a colonoscopy so that the bowel can be looked at closely to rule out cancer.

Although you had a sigmoidoscopy a couple of years ago if you are found to have a positive FIT, the doctor is likely to still recommend a colonoscopy to be safe as this looks at the whole of your bowel, the sigmoidoscopy just looks at the rectum and the lower part of your bowel.

You mention your family history. When cancer is in the family, people often assume that this greatly increases their risk of developing it, but this isn't always true. It will depend on how close relatives are (parent, child or sibling) and the age of diagnosis.  We have further information about family history and the risk of bowel cancer on our website here.

I hope this reply helps in some way. Please get back to us if you need any more information or support.  You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Take care, all the best 

Jemma