Simple urine test could spare thousands painful checks for womb cancer

Manchester: A simple new test could prevent thousands of women from having painful, invasive checks for womb cancer, doctors said this week.

Currently, women who are tested for the disease undergo internal ultrasound scans, a biopsy of the womb lining and hysteroscopy, which involves sending a camera into the womb. All are invasive to patients, and costly to health services.

The new test could change all that. Developed by the University of Manchester, it detects cancer by looking at cells collected from urine and vaginal fluid. In a trial involving 1,864 women, it identified more than 80% of cancers and was 98.8% accurate in ruling out the disease.

Women who experience bleeding after the menopause are most likely to benefit from the test. While only 5% to 10% of them ultimately have cancer, all are given referrals to test for the disease.”Our study shows that a simple test using urine and vaginal samples could help identify the women most likely to have cancer while safely reassuring many others much earlier in the diagnostic pathway,” said Prof Emma Davidson.”If further studies confirm these findings in routine practice, this approach has the potential to transform care for thousands of women every year.”