More than 20,000 NHS patients will take part at GP practices
Patients with persistent abdominal symptoms could receive earlier investigations for cancer through a major NHS trial testing a new approach to diagnosis. More than 20,000 people will take part in STRIDE-RCT across at least 200 GP practices in England. The trial will assess whether blood tests can help doctors identify patients who need further investigations, when symptoms such as bloating or abdominal discomfort have no clear explanation.
Patients aged 45 and over attending participating practices with abdominal symptoms will be offered the opportunity to join. The tests will look for signs of several cancers in a single blood sample and suggest where in the body those signals originate. A positive result will help inform decisions about urgent referral. It will not, by itself, confirm a cancer diagnosis.
Led by the University of Birmingham, the trial addresses a familiar difficulty in general practice: early cancer symptoms can resemble those of much less serious conditions. Researchers want to establish whether the tests can help GPs distinguish between patients who need urgent investigation and those whose symptoms have another cause.
The tests use different technologies, including measuring proteins in the blood and applying artificial intelligence to analyse findings. Most will require one or two tubes of blood taken alongside routine blood tests at the GP practice. “These blood tests might help GPs tell the two apart, but we need to know for certain before they are used across the NHS, and this trial is designed to give that answer quickly,” says Professor Aneel Bhangu, Professor of Global Surgery and Surgical Systems at the University of Birmingham.
Helping GPs investigate sooner
The importance of earlier diagnosis is particularly clear in bowel cancer. Around nine in ten people diagnosed at stage one survive for at least five years, compared with around one in ten diagnosed at stage four.
“Symptoms such as bloating and stomach pain are common and could have many causes,” says Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK. She welcomes the trial as a step towards giving GPs better evidence to decide who needs further testing. The research covers a broad range of abdominal cancers, including those affecting the bowel and pancreas. Ovarian cancer and cancers of the urinary system are also included.
The trial will receive up to £8.49m from the Office for Life Sciences through the National Institute for Health and Care Research. Participating practices will serve communities across England, including rural areas and neighbourhoods with high levels of deprivation. Researchers will assess how the tests perform alongside clinical judgement before any decision is made about wider NHS use.
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