There has been a new breakthrough in bowel cancer treatment

British scientists have achieved a new step in the treatment and prevention of bowel cancer .

According to the Daily Mail, a British surgeon has developed a method that allows only the most limited removal of the intestinal tract (for patients with benign and malignant polyps).

About 1 in 5 Britons have polyps - tumors that form inside the rectum or colon - most of these are benign but they will cause rectal bleeding, diarrhea, abdominal pain and 10 % cause cancer.

Due to the high risk of cancer, doctors often choose to remove polyps. In most cases, a laparoscopic operation is required (a rectal camera is inserted into the intestine. The images will be transmitted onto a computer screen and the doctor will rely on it). to burn or remove the intestinal segment with polyp tumors.

The method allows only the most limited part of the intestine to be removed.

However, in some cases, when the polyps are too large or malignant, a part of the colon must be removed. Usually, a third of the intestine - most of which is healthy tissue - is removed and the remaining intestine is connected.

Every year in the UK, there are about 1,000 people with benign polyps and one third of the intestinal surgery and 40% of these complications often include bleeding, heart attacks, blood clots in the lungs , reduced gastrointestinal function and intestinal infection. In addition, about 2% of surgeries are at risk of death.

But FLEX , the newly developed technique at St Mark Hospital in Harrow, Northwest London, only removes the colon that contains polyps or tumors with a general anesthesia endoscopic surgery.

Doctors hope this method will reduce the risk of surgery by 5% to 10%. Previously, the surgery would take patients 4 to 7 days to recover, but with FLEX this time only takes about 1 to 2 days.

Professor Robin Kennedy, who is ready to guide this method to doctors across the UK, said: "FLEX means that patients will not lose healthy tissue and surgery can be done. in less than 1 hour compared with 2-3 hours of the old method ".

The first patient to apply this treatment was Griffith Chanot, a retired electronic design engineer at Ickenham, Greater London.

Chanot, 83, underwent a surgery with FLEX technology in May 2015 after a colonoscopy found 3 tumors and one of them became cancer. He said: "The surgery is very simple and takes place like people do magic. There are a few small marks on my abdomen due to the surgery but they quickly healed. I like this technique. because it only intervenes to a minimum and everything has returned to normal within just a few days. "

Professor Kennedy believes that this technique is suitable for patients with early colon cancer with a tumor size less than 3cm in diameter and limited to the lining of the intestine.

He said that in the next 3 to 5 years, medicine could take a step further with this new technique to remove local areas of cancerous tumors that are detected early and this will increase the cure rate. disease for patients.