This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Study into home-testing kits to detect bowel cancer
NHS England is funding a study into the accuracy of home-testing kits that detect bowel cancer from invisible amounts of blood in an attempt to halve the number of invasive procedures by 2020.
Currently, each colonoscopy costs the NHS £372 compared to approximately £5 for the new tests, which means that the health service could save millions if the home-testing kits are improved. It would also mean that 100,000 NHS patients in England avoid the need for uncomfortable colonoscopies each year by first getting a reliable ‘all clear’ from a simple at-home test.
FIT, the new bowel cancer test, predicts bowel cancer by precisely recording the presence of any blood in just one gram of excretion, with the study able to identify how these levels of blood may vary by age, sex and ethnicity.
GPs have referred 302,643 patients to have urgent investigations for suspected bowel cancer over the last year, an annual increase of 15 per cent. The majority of them underwent colonoscopies and more than 95 per cent of them were found not to have bowel cancer after all.
Cally Palmer, National Cancer Director at NHS England, said: “We are pleased to support this fantastic study that seeks to revolutionise diagnosis for patients with colorectal symptoms. This study, and others like it, is a key component of our transformation plans to improve survival by diagnosing cancer earlier and faster. We will be studying the results closely to see how we can best roll this test out nationally.”
The research will be led by Croydon Health Service NHS Trust, and will study 6,000 patients within one year.
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