What is bowel cancer screening?
A Bowel cancer screening is a technique of identifying people who may have bowel cancer or a precursor by testing samples of their stools for the presence of hidden (occult) blood. The method used by most large-scale screening programmes involves a guaiac faecal occult blood test (FOB.) This is the gold standard for bowel cancer screening. People are given test cards and asked to place samples of their stools on the card on three separate days. The cards are sealed, returned to a laboratory and analysed. Results are communicated by letter.
