Colonoscopy

A scan that offers patients a less invasive test, sometimes called a ‘virtual colonoscopy’, is more effective than the traditional X-ray test of barium enema and should now be considered alongside the ‘gold standard’ of colonoscopy for investigating patients with a possible bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer rates could be reduced by up to 80 per cent in people with a moderate family history of the disease by screening with colonoscopy, according to new research published in the British Medical Journal.