Bowel & Cancer Research

Bowel & Cancer Research (B&CR) is a registered charity based in the United Kingdom.

It is an organisation with three principle aims. The first is to improve survival rates for bowel cancer sufferers through research into the spread and behaviour of cancer in specific patient populations. The second is to investigate the causes, effects and treatment of bowel disorders other than cancer which are currently poorly understood. The third is, through pioneering innovations in surgery, to improve the quality of life of patients suffering a range of bowel disorders who may otherwise need to rely upon a stoma(bag).

The prevalence of bowel cancer and other disorders

Bowel cancer affects some 35,000 people a year in the UK, and despite being one of the easiest cancers to cure, of these people only half will still be living up to 5 years after diagnosis. The main reason for this is that very often diagnosis is left too late. The other is that, in comparison with other cancers such as breast, bowel cancer has not received the attention in terms of translational research .

Bowel problems by their very nature are embarrassing and usually kept quiet, despite causing an enormous amount of distress to the sufferer. Far too many people 'suffer in silence' the symptoms of, for example, faecal incontinence, a large proportion of whom are women who have suffered complications either during or some time after childbirth. The social and psychological effects on these individuals can be devastating.

In the UK alone, around 100,000 people each year, from new born babies to the elderly will need to be fitted with a colostomy (bag) as a result of surgery for bowel cancer, another bowel disease or disorder of function.

What the charity does

Operating out of the Centre for Academic Surgery at the Royal London Hospital (a centre of excellence in the field of bowel disorder), Bowel & Cancer Research permanently funds a custom designed clinical grade Colorectal Cancer Laboratory. It funds scientists and clinicians through the Saving Lives (bowel cancer research) and Changing Lives (non-cancer research/innovations in surgery) programmes. The charity is led by Professor Norman Williams, MB, MS, FRCS, FMedSci, a world renowned surgeon and pioneer in the field of bowel disorders.

Bowel & Cancer Research's vision is that no one should die of bowel cancer or be compelled to live with a stoma (colostomy or ileostomy).

In pursuit of this vision Bowel & Cancer Research has established two programmes: 1. Saving Lives: improving survival rates for bowel cancer sufferers through pioneering research into the spread and behaviour of cancer in specific at risk populations.

2. Changing Lives: investigating the causes, effects and treatment of bowel disorders other than cancer which are currently poorly understood and, through pioneering innovations in surgery and allied therapies, improve the quality of life of patients. In particular we aim to eliminate the need for patients to rely upon a stoma.

aving lives

Bowel & Cancer Research (B&CR) focuses on translational research to foster a direct link between clinically relevant studies and improvements in treatments for patients, in contrast with more basic scientific research concentrating upon understanding disease processes. Translational research transfers the lessons learnt at the laboratory bench directly to the operating theatre or the patient bedside in the form of new diagnostic techniques or treatments. However, this type of research is both costly and time consuming due to the stringent ethical and legal monitoring which governs studies involving tissue taken from patients - or indeed the patients themselves - in the case of surgical innovations.

Changing lives

Bowel & Cancer Research's vision is that no one should die of bowel cancer or be compelled to live with a stoma (colostomy or ileostomy).

In pursuit of this vision Bowel & Cancer Research has established two programmes: 1. Saving Lives: improving survival rates for bowel cancer sufferers through pioneering research into the spread and behaviour of cancer in specific at risk populations.

2. Changing Lives: investigating the causes, effects and treatment of bowel disorders other than cancer which are currently poorly understood and, through pioneering innovations in surgery and allied therapies, improve the quality of life of patients. In particular we aim to eliminate the need for patients to rely upon a stoma.

Bowel & Cancer Research (B&CR) focuses on translational research to foster a direct link between clinically relevant studies and improvements in treatments for patients, in contrast with more basic scientific research concentrating upon understanding disease processes. Translational research transfers the lessons learnt at the laboratory bench directly to the operating theatre or the patient bedside in the form of new diagnostic techniques or treatments. However, this type of research is both costly and time consuming due to the stringent ethical and legal monitoring which governs studies involving tissue taken from patients - or indeed the patients themselves - in the case of surgical innovations.

ee also

* Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer
* Diet and cancer
* Bowel cancer

External links

* [http://www.bowelcancerresearch.org Bowel & Cancer Research]