Recently another patient in his early 40s went to see his GP for a skin lesion.  The GP suggested he has a FOBT too during the consultation. The FOBT turned out to be positive.  He subsequently had  a colonoscopy which showed a small caecal cancer. He went on to have a right hemicolectomy. Further scans have not shown any evidence of spread.

Were it not for his GP ordering the FOBT, this patient’s cancer would probably not have been detected until a few years later(usually the patient would either present with anaemia; occasionally one can get a right sided abdominal pain  from this that could be the same as an appendicitis type pain). This raises the dilemma for the all doctors  – how aggressively does one screen the patient and from what age? Also is there enough resources to do this especially in the public system?