An East Lancashire surgeon has urged people to make sure they visit their GP if they have the symptoms of bowel cancer.
This week is the national Be Loud campaign to beat bowel cancer, and surgeon Lyndon Jones said that it can be treated successfully in more than 90% of cases if it is diagnosed at an early stage.
Mr Jones, who treats patients at Burnley General Hospital and the Royal Blackburn Hospital, said: “As with so many cancers, early diagnosis is very important. If people have any symptoms, they should visit their GP as soon as possible rather than delay.
“In many cases, the symptoms will not be bowel cancer but to rule it out people need to visit their GP. If you do need more investigations to find out what is causing the symptoms, your doctor will make those referrals for you.”
People should visit their GP if they had been experiencing any of these symptoms for three weeks or more:
l A persistent change in bowel habit meaning any unexpected or unexplained change to your normal habits of going to the toilet and emptying your bowels.
l Abdominal pain that is constant or which comes and goes. You should seek help immediately if it becomes severe.
l Bleeding from your bottom without any obvious cause.
l A lump in your stomach, especially on the right hand side.
l Unexplained tiredness, dizziness and breathlessness.
l Unexpected and unexplained weight loss.