Health

NHS to Trial Multi‑Cancer Blood Tests at 200 GP Practices

By Today News Hours Editorial Desk

New blood tests that screen for several cancers at once will be offered to NHS patients in about 200 GP surgeries across England as part of a trial. The tests aim to detect hard‑to‑diagnose abdominal cancers – including liver, ovarian and pancreatic cancer – earlier, before they spread. They look for proteins or DNA fragments in the blood that may signal cancer. Results could help doctors decide which patients with vague symptoms need further investigations. More than 20,000 patients aged 45 and over who have symptoms such as pain or persistent bloating will be eligible to participate. The government‑funded trial, led by the University of Birmingham, will assess whether the tests are accurate enough for wider NHS use. A separate NHS trial of a test called Galleri recently failed to meet its main goal of reducing diagnoses of late‑stage cancers, although researchers are still assessing its potential benefits. Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England’s national clinical director for cancer, said detecting abdominal cancer early was "notoriously difficult" because symptoms can easily be mistaken for other less serious conditions. Earlier diagnosis gives patients a much better chance of successful treatment and survival. 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. The new STRIDE‑RCT trial will look for bowel, small bowel, stomach, oesophageal, pancreatic, liver, bile duct and gallbladder, ovarian, endometrial, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer. Patients will provide one or two tubes of blood, taken at their GP practice, alongside routine tests. Scientists will analyse the samples for signs of cancer and, if present, may be able to pinpoint where in the body the tumour is located. A positive result does not automatically mean there is cancer, and a negative result is not a guaranteed all‑clear. Health Secretary Yvette Cooper said she hoped simple blood tests such as these would help identify patients needing urgent investigation much sooner. Michelle Mitchell from Cancer Research UK said: "GPs have long needed better tools to help them navigate that uncertainty by identifying which patients require further testing and this trial in England is an important step towards addressing that need."