Bowel cancer's invasive biopsy tests could be replaced by new scientific discovery

Invasive and painful biopsies when diagnosing bowel cancer could become a thing of the past as researchers have found a way to check for the disease using digital screenings. Research was conducted by the Glasgow-based scientists on behalf of Cancer Research UK, who said imaging technology can be used instead of biopsies when diagnosing the disease.

Biopsies require an invasive procedure with a number of health risks, such as infection, and are limited in what they can capture within a patient’s bowel. However, experts working with Cancer Research UK found that Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging can allow the entire bowel to be examined and for tumours to be studied while inside the body, as opposed to examining the tumour tissue once it has been removed.

PET scans create a three-dimensional picture of the inside of the body, and researchers believe doing several scans during treatment could help monitor the cancer more effectively. This approach of targeting treatment to a specific patient is known as precision medicine, a growing area of oncology.

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Dr David Lewis, of the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and the University of Glasgow, who led the research, said: “Precision medicine has the potential to revolutionise cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the development of accurate informative and patient-friendly diagnostic techniques is crucial for its success.

“PET imaging offers a promising alternative, with the ability to survey the entire cancer landscape, allowing us to examine tumours in more detail while they are still growing.”

According to Cancer Research UK around 43,000 people are