Expert Colorectal Diagnosis and Surgery

Current guidance recommends starting at forty-five for people at average risk. If you have a first-degree relative with colorectal cancer, screening should begin ten years before the age at which they were diagnosed. Symptoms at any age — bleeding, a persistent change in bowel habit, unexplained anaemia — mean colonoscopy now rather than at a screening milestone.

No. Haemorrhoids and anal fissures are far commoner causes than cancer. But the two cannot be distinguished reliably by symptoms alone, and assuming the benign explanation without examination is the single commonest reason colorectal cancer is diagnosed late. Bleeding warrants assessment, not reassurance over the phone.

It is performed under sedation and most patients remember little of it. The bowel preparation the day before is the part people find least pleasant. Modern preparations are lower in volume and better tolerated than older regimens, and the whole procedure typically takes twenty to thirty minutes.

In most colon operations, no — the bowel is rejoined during the same procedure. For rectal cancer, a temporary stoma is sometimes created to protect the join while it heals, and is usually reversed after a few months. A permanent stoma is needed only when the tumour involves the anal sphincter itself.

Most episodes of uncomplicated diverticulitis settle with antibiotics and dietary modification. Surgery is reserved for recurrent attacks that disrupt life, or for complications such as perforation, abscess, fistula or stricture. A high-fibre diet after recovery reduces the chance of further episodes.

Stage at diagnosis governs everything. Cancers confined to the bowel wall have five-year survival above ninety percent. This is precisely why screening matters so much — it shifts diagnosis from symptomatic, advanced disease to asymptomatic, early disease, or prevents it altogether by removing the polyp.