NHS launches 20,000-patient trial of blood tests for abdominal cancers at 200 GP practices

The launch

The trial is called STRIDE-RCT. The University of Birmingham leads it and developed the tests with partners.

It has up to £8.49m in government funding, routed through the National Institute for Health and Care Research from the Office for Life Sciences. The practices serve inner-city, rural, seaside and deprived communities, which the researchers say will let them test the approach across different populations and settings. Most participants will give one or two tubes of blood at their practice alongside routine blood tests.

The government calls it a world-first trial, though Reuters corrected its own headline and first paragraph to remove that claim.

Yvette Cooper, the health and social care secretary, placed it inside the National Cancer Plan. "The earlier cancers are diagnosed, the more chance they can be successfully treated, and lives can be saved," she said.

Why the trial matters

Patients aged 45 and over who visit a GP with abdominal symptoms, such as persistent bloating or discomfort, will be offered the chance to take part.

Around 71,000 people in England are diagnosed each year with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer, and almost 35,000 die from these cancers. Abdominal cancers are often found late. Around nine in ten people diagnosed with bowel cancer at stage 1 survive at least five years, compared with around one in ten at stage 4. That gap is the argument for the trial: a test that moves a diagnosis from stage 4 to stage 1 would change outcomes, not just referral volumes.

Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer and chair of the Office for Life Sciences Cancer Goal, said early detection of abdominal cancer is "notoriously difficult". Symptoms can easily be mistaken for less serious conditions, he said.

For GPs the harder question is triage. Only 2 to 6 per cent of urgent cancer referrals currently result in a cancer diagnosis, according to figures the government cited. Researchers hope the tests could reduce unnecessary referrals and pressure on diagnostic services, but that is one of the things the trial has to establish.

A positive result will help a GP and patient decide whether an urgent referral is needed, but it is not by itself a confirmed cancer diagnosis. A negative result cannot guarantee that cancer is absent.

How the tests work

The tests use artificial intelligence and measurements of proteins in the blood, and some look for DNA shed by tumours. The trial will initially evaluate three different tests, with more potentially added later. Samples will be analysed using tests from three companies.

Practices will be randomly allocated. Half will offer eligible patients a blood test alongside usual care, and the other half will provide usual care. GPs in the trial will record how strongly they suspect cancer, so researchers can assess how well the tests work alongside clinical judgement rather than in place of it.

The randomised design is meant to separate the test's contribution from a GP's own suspicion.

The government's list names 12 cancer types, from bowel and stomach to ovarian, kidney, bladder and prostate. Reuters reported the trial covers 14 cancers.

The Galleri precedent

An earlier NHS trial of the Galleri multi-cancer test involved more than 142,000 volunteers. It did not meet its main objective of reducing the number of cancers diagnosed at stages 3 and 4, Pharmacy Business reported. The new study tests people who already have symptoms, which researchers say may give doctors more useful information.

Aneel Bhangu, a consultant colorectal surgeon and co-chief investigator, said too many patients reach him after months of vague symptoms. Most people referred urgently do not have cancer, he said, which causes unnecessary worry and expense.

He said the tests might help GPs tell the two groups apart, but that this must be established for certain before use across the NHS.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, welcomed the trial. The findings "will be valuable in guiding further research, including whether these tests could be used in the NHS", she said.

What happens next

The University of Birmingham's project record gives an end date of 31 October 2031. No results have yet been reported.

The government said the findings will help determine whether the tests are accurate and useful enough to support wider NHS use. For now, the tests are offered only to eligible patients who join the study.