St Vincent’s gastroenterologist Associate Professor John Nik Ding is part of an expert panel developing new guidelines for those diagnosed with early onset bowel cancer. 

Leading bowel cancer screenings at St Vincent’s hospitals in Melbourne for close to a decade, A/Prof Ding has seen a growing number of young patients. 

"Currently one in eight people diagnosed with bowel cancer are under 50 years, A/Prof Ding said.

 “I have been advocating hard to increase awareness of early onset of this cancer and was part of Bowel Cancer Australia’s Call on Canberra initiative, which advocated for lowering the screening age to 45 years. 

"Screening ages around the world have been dropping, in line with increasing rates of younger people being diagnosed. The need is there for potentially even younger screening.

“I have seen people in their 20s and 30s with bowel cancer and that is the motivation for my advocacy work.” 

While raising awareness is crucial so that symptoms are not dismissed by younger people or their GPs, A/Prof Ding is also paving the whole for other health professionals caring for this younger group. 

Until now, clinical practice guidelines were not age specific.

“Our hope is to have a set of guidelines that will standardise how we practice across hospitals, with equitable care across the board and clear benchmarks. 

“This will be a living document; we will continue to generate evidence and add new information as it comes to light.” 

While ensuring patients receive the best care, Dr Ding continues to advocate for screening to prevent bowel cancer from developing. 

“By having a colonoscopy, we can get rid of any polyps which lead to bowel cancer. There are not many other cancers where you have the ability to prevent it in a very real way,” Dr Ding added. 

“If you have any symptoms, please schedule in a colonoscopy or do a faecal test.” 

Further information on development of the Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Early Diagnosis and Management of Early-Onset Bowel Cancer can be found here.