UK Edition
GPs repeatedly missing 'red flag' signs of bowel cancer
GPs are repeatedly missing “red flag” signs of bowel cancer, with one fifth of cases diagnosed in A&E found to have had alarm bell symptoms in the previous year, a study shows.
The UK research found that on average, patients who were not diagnosed until their case became an emergency had visited their GP five times in the 12 months previously.
Experts said patients were being left with worse survival chances because multiple opportunities were being missed to identify the disease early.
In some cases, the disease was missed because symptoms were atypical, researchers said.
But the study of 1,600 patients found that 18 per cent of bowel cancer patients and 23 per cent of those with rectal cancer who were diagnosed as an emergency had “red flag” symptoms, which should have prompted prompt investigation.
Such signs - which include blood in the urine or faeces, diarrhoea and weight loss – are supposed to prompt GPs to consider referral for cancer tests.
The study by University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine was published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Lead researcher Cristina Renzi, Cancer Research UK scientist at University College London, said: "We know that patients diagnosed with cancer after emergency presentations don't do as well as patients who are diagnosed by their doctor through non-emergency routes.
"This study shows that most patients - who are picked up through the emergency route - can be harder to diagnose as they often don't show typical bowel cancer symptoms.
"However, in most cases they visit their doctor for various reasons multiple times during the months leading up to their diagnosis, which could represent opportunities to diagnose the cancer earlier.”
She said GPs needed more support to help them diagnose and refer patients promptly.