New trial to improve bladder cancer diagnosis

A new urine test is expected to revolutionise clinicians' ability to diagnose bladder cancer by providing results within three hours.

ADXBLADDER, being trialled at University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, works by detecting a protein (Mcm5) which is shed into urine by bladder and prostate tumours.

A study of 577 patients found that the test correctly identified 95 per cent of intermediate and high risk cancers and provided an accurate negative result in 97 per cent of cases.

Approximately two-thirds of bladder cancer cases, which are the seventh most common cancer type in the UK, recur within five years, meaning patients have to be monitored routinely after treatment. Around 10,000 people are diagnosed every year.

The commonly used invasive cystoscopy examination, which involves passing a thin device through the urethra to examine the inside of the bladder, can miss up to 30 per cent of bladder tumours, so patients often also require an ultrasound and, in some high risk cases, a CT scan.

Tim Dudderidge, a consultant urological surgeon at Southampton General Hospital, said: “There is an urgent and unmet need for a speedy, non-invasive test that would allow for more screening and enable earlier detection of bladder cancer, with patients currently referred to hospital to undergo a cystoscopy and, potentially, also an ultrasound and CT.

“This is a simple test which provides a yes or no answer according to whether or not there has been a colour change in the Mcm5 protein within around three hours with no need for samples to be sent to specialist laboratories.”