Sir, – I agree with Barbara Gilleran (Letters, April 10th) that the age for bowel cancer screening should be lowered, ideally to 50 years of age. Those who are unfamiliar with what bowel cancer screening entails may mistakenly have got the impression from reading this letter that it involves having a colonoscopy, which is mentioned twice.
Screening involves a simple home test kit which is sent out by BowelScreen and returned for analysis. Five per cent of these can be expected to be positive and these participants will then be offered a colonoscopy.
For now, all those aged 56-69 years of age should register with BowelScreen, either online, by freephone or by email in order to ensure participation in this potentially life-saving screening service. – Yours, etc,
DR REGGIE SPELMAN,
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Rosslare Strand,
Co Wexford.
