Symptoms of bowel cancer can include blood in your stool, bloating, constipation, changes in bowel habit and unexplained weight loss.

But two people presenting with the same symptoms could go down very different paths to test if their symptoms are, in fact, bowel cancer.

And that can be due to where you live, with richer areas getting different types of follow up and testing. 

Guest

• Dr Shaoke Lei, Research Fellow in Cancer Services and Data Science, University of Melbourne and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Alliance

References

• Variations in the investigation of colorectal cancer-related symptoms in Australian primary care: a retrospective cohort study