NHS launches multi-cancer blood test trial in GP surgeries

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 4 Nov, 00:32 · Archive

The NHS is launching a trial of blood tests designed to detect multiple cancers in one visit to a GP surgery.

The NHS is launching the STRIDE-RCT trial of blood tests designed to detect multiple cancers in one go. The trial will recruit over 20,000 patients aged 45 and over from 200 GP surgeries across England. Patients with symptoms such as abdominal pain, bloating, stomach cramps, heartburn, diarrhoea and constipation will be eligible to take part. The tests look for proteins or fragments of DNA in the blood that may signal cancer, including pancreatic, ovarian, bowel, stomach, liver, bile duct, gallbladder, oesophageal, endometrial, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer.

Abdominal cancers are often diagnosed only after they have spread, making them harder to treat successfully. Around 71,000 people in England are diagnosed each year with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer, and nearly 35,000 die from these diseases. For bowel cancer, around nine in ten people diagnosed at stage 1 survive at least five years, compared with around one in ten at stage 4.

Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said the trial was 'world-first' and would 'establish whether simple blood tests can help GPs identify much sooner the patients who need urgent support'. The trial is led by the University of Birmingham and will assess whether the tests are accurate enough for wider NHS use. Patients will provide one or two tubes of blood taken at their GP practice alongside routine tests.

How it is being reported

• NHS trials first multi-cancer blood test to investigate common symptoms often dismissedA new STRIDE-RCT trial will recruit 20,000 patients from 200 GP surgeries to check for prostate, ovarian, bowel, pancreatic, stomach, liver and other abdominal cancersThe Mirror · 4 Nov, 00:15
• 'Multi-cancer' blood tests coming to some GP surgeries soonThe aim is to detect hard-to-diagnose abdominal cancers, including liver, ovarian and pancreatic cancer, much sooner.BBC News · 4 Nov, 00:04

In this story: NHS · University of Birmingham · England · Yvette Cooper

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log