Study to find those most at risk of bowel cancer celebrates 1,000th patient recruit

A research team is celebrating after reaching an impressive milestone in a study which looks to find those most at risk of bowel cancer. 

This form of the disease is responsible for more than 16,000 deaths across the UK each year.

The COLO-COHORT study, led by South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust, has now recruited its 1,000th patient across its sites.

It aims to develop a tool to help identify which patients are at the highest risk of having an adenoma, or benign tumour, or bowel cancer.

The trial is also looking at the gut bacteria of these patients.

Of those people recruited by the Trust, 814 have been patients seen at South Tyneside District Hospital and the remainder at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

The study was launched in 2019 and is working towards its goal of recruiting 10,000 patients nationally.

It is led by Professor Colin Rees. He is a Professor of Gastroenterology at Newcastle University who carries out clinical work at our Trust. He is also President Elect of the British Society of Gastroenterology and an NIHR Senior Investigator.  

The study is supported by Ingrid Emmerson, COLO-SPEED Lead Nurse, and the Gastroenterology Research Nurses. 

Professor Rees said: “I work with a fantastic team who are all committed to delivering high quality research to patients. 

“I’m hugely grateful to them and to the many patients who agree to be part of our research. 

“COLO-COHORT is a world leading study which we hope will make a huge difference to patients with bowel cancer and pre cancer.”

An additional area of work will be developing a large platform of patients who agree to be contacted about future research.

Professor Mark Hull, from Leeds University, collaborated on the research.

He said: “Recruiting over a 1000 patients is a remarkable effort that everyone should be immensely proud about. 

“South Tyneside is undoubtedly one of the top research sites in the UK.”

The study is funded with £1.25 million grant from the Guts UK Parabola Foundation and is part of the COLO-SPEED research network (more details https://colospeed.uk/) . This is funded by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.  

A total of 24 other Trusts are also involved. A full list and more details can be found via https://colospeed.uk/studies/colo-cohort/ 

Others from the North East include North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust; South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust; County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust; North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Foundation Trust and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

More details about the Trust’s own research work can be found through https://www.stsft.nhs.uk/research-and-innovation/research