Bowel cancer in Marlborough is “definitely not being caught early enough” says Churchill Private Hospital colorectal surgeon Chris Liyanage, as a screening programme for the disease gets underway in the region.
About half of all bowel cancer patients Chris sees have advanced stages of the disease. According to Bowel Cancer New Zealand, Marlborough has the fourth-highest rate of bowel cancer nationwide.
Chris says a contributing factor to this high rate of late diagnosis is that people tend not to talk about worrying symptoms, or put them down to a minor problem like haemorrhoids, and put off seeing a doctor.
Another problem is that sometimes there are no symptoms – which is why the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board launched a two-year bowel cancer screening programme in August 2018.
The programme, which has already been implemented by several other health boards around the country, would see 30,000 people aged 60-74 receive an invitation to participate and a home test kit in the mail.
Once the National Bowel Screening Programme is fully implemented, it is estimated that as many as 500-700 cancers each year will be detected early.
“The screening programme is going to be a lot of work, and it should be beneficial to helping with the early detection and treatment of bowel cancer,” Chris says.
Nationally, each year about 3,000 people are diagnosed with the disease and more than 1,200 die of it. It is estimated 1 in 18 New Zealanders will develop bowel cancer in their lifetime.
Bowel Cancer New Zealand said 75 per cent of bowel cancer is curable if caught early.
Chris says anyone with worrying symptoms should see a doctor rather than wait to be contacted by the screening programme. She adds that she also sees many younger people with the disease, so those not eligible for the programme should also seek a medical opinion if they show symptoms.
High risk symptoms include:
– Change in bowel habits to looser, more frequent stools
– Bleeding without the presence of haemorrhoids and anaemia
Chris did the majority of her medical and surgical training in the UK, before completing fellowships in laparoscopic and open colorectal surgery and pelvic floor disorders in Adelaide and Edinburgh.
Spending time in Australia gave Chris a taste for life in the antipodes, which led to her eventual decision to emigrate to New Zealand.
“I didn’t want to stay in the UK having experienced life on this side of the world”
She worked as a consultant colorectal surgeon for the NHS in England before making the move to New Zealand in 2015, and now consults and operates from Churchill Private Hospital. She is also Head of Department for general surgery at Nelson Marlborough Health and she enjoys working in both the private and public system.
Her areas of interest include laparoscopic and open surgery for benign and malignant colorectal diseases. Chris performs surgery for benign anorectal diseases such as haemorrhoids, fissures and fistulae, pelvic floor disorders as well as hernia repairs, and colonoscopy and gastroscopy procedures.
A large portion of her work involves performing colonoscopies to investigate symptoms, not only for potential bowel cancer but for people with functional bowel problems who lack any obvious symptoms of disease.
She says a particularly satisfying element of her work is seeing the relief on patients’ faces when they get a good result, such as the removal of a pre-cancerous polyp – a growth they may not even have been aware of, but which could have had serious implications in the future.
“If you’re going to do something full-time, you’ve got to love everything about it. The pathology, the treatment – it’s got to interest you, and it’s what I really enjoy.”
