A study looking at laser light as a possible new way to diagnose bowel cancer

With Raman spectroscopy, the doctor shines a laser onto the bowel wall and a computer reads how the light is scattered back off the tissue. Normal and abnormal cells will cause the light to scatter in different ways. The computer tells the doctor how likely the tissue is to be normal, pre cancerous or cancerous.

But before this can be used on people, it needs to be tested on samples of tissue. People taking part in this study will give extra samples of bowel tissue during a colonoscopy or bowel surgery they are already due to have. The research team will use these samples to further study Raman spectroscopy. And to see how this may be developed into a test for bowel cancer in the future. This work is at a very early stage, but they hope that if successful, in future it may help doctors diagnose bowel cancer earlier, without long and possibly uncomfortable procedures.

You will not have any direct benefit from taking part in this study, and it is unlikely to change your treatment plan in any way. But the results of the study will be used to help people in the future.