Bowel Health test kit available in pharmacies.

A test to identify blood traces in the stool - 95% of cases of colon cancer develop from polyps,benign tumours inside the colon which bleed occasionally. The test kit is sent to you by post. Using the stick provided,take several samples from different areas of your stool,then place the stick in the sample container and shake well. Place two drops of this solution onto the test kit and wait 5 minutes. If two purple lines appear,even if one is faint,you should visit your GP.

Looking at blood in the stool is the corner-stone of the national screening programme,so this a good test for the right person. The at high risk group is 60 to 70 year olds, and they will get a free test from the NHS in the post anyway. If your outside this group_ younger with a family history of colitis,or have  had polyps,a test would be useful. Anyone in these groups should be under GP surveillance anyway. Whatever test you take its very easy to get false positives.If youuve eaten a rare steak,for example,you might get a positive result for traces of blood in the stool. Only about a third of positives actually mean a polyp. False positives can lead to lots of unnecessary worry,concern and further investigations 

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