果冻影院

A new test for bladder cancer could enable GPs to test a urine sample and spare patients the discomfort of a cystoscopy in hospital, according to research published today in Clinical Epigenetics.听

The test, called UroMark, has been developed by 果冻影院 researchers and uses cutting edge genomic sequencing to detect abnormal cancer DNA in a urine sample. 聽The research team, led by Professor John Kelly (Professor of Uro-Oncology, 果冻影院, and Consultant Urological Surgeon, 果冻影院H) and Dr Andy Feber (Senior Research Associate, 果冻影院 Cancer Institute and scientific lead of the study), identified a panel of DNA alterations which are highly specific to bladder cancer and found that when used on DNA from urine, UroMark detected bladder cancer with a high degree of accuracy (98% of cases), equivalent to a cystoscopy, currently the clinical gold standard.听

The study was carried out on 300 patients and the UK Medical Research Council has awarded 拢1.42 million for two larger trials which are currently underway across 32 hospitals. 聽The trials will confirm the accuracy of UroMark before it becomes widely available for clinical use.听

Approximately 11,000 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year in the UK. For most people, an early sign of bladder cancer is blood in their urine (haematuria), but many patients experience symptoms such as recurrent infection; and the urgency and irritation to urinate.听

Normally, patients with blood in their urine are sent to hospital for tests, which include passing an instrument along the water pipe or urethra to inspect the bladder (cystoscopy). The new test will avoid the need for cystoscopy for many patients and can be tested by GPs if cancer is suspected. 聽

Earlier detection

Professor John Kelly said: 鈥淲e have good evidence that patients, particularly females, are diagnosed late with bladder cancer and often patients visit a GP several times with symptoms prior to detection. 聽Having the UroMark test available to GPs will mean that patients can be tested at an early stage to rule out bladder cancer.鈥� 聽

The team anticipate that UroMark will reduce the costs of having to refer patients to hospital. 聽In the UK around 110,000 cystoscopies are performed each year, at a cost to the NHS in the region of 拢55.39 million.

UroMark has been developed with funding from the National Institute for Health Research.听Professor Kelly and Dr Feber are supported by the 果冻影院 Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre

Further information聽

• Research paper: Clinical Epigenetics
• Professor John Kelly academic profile
• Image source: Shutterstock

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