Now free on the NHS: Blood test that can pick up 12 types of cancer
Thousands of adults with suspected cancers will be offered a new blood test to rapidly detect the killer disease as part of an NHS trial.
Health chiefs hope the 'exciting' scheme will help improve survival rates by finding it 'earlier, faster and cheaper'.
The test, developed by a team at the University of Southampton, uses AI to analyse blood samples for tiny fragments of genetic material from tumours to identify cancer present in the body.
It will be trialled on around 8,000 patients, looking for 12 of the most common types of cancer.
These include bowel, lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, ovarian, liver, brain, oesophageal, bladder, gastric, and bone and soft tissue sarcoma.
Experts said the technology was 'cheap, fast and scalable' and could be rolled out across the NHS for suspected cancer within two years.
If introduced, it will mean patients could be spared invasive procedures such as colonoscopies or biopsies to detect the disease, while also saving the NHS time and money.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, NHS national medical director, said: 'This blood test has the potential to help us detect bowel cancer earlier and reduce the need for invasive tests.
'The next step in this trial will now be vital in gathering further evidence on its effectiveness and how it could work in practice.'
Ashley Dalton, the public health minister who announced earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time, added: 'When my cancer was first diagnosed, it was a complicated ordeal involving tests and retests, appointments and scans.
'A simple blood test could have streamlined my diagnosis so doctors could focus on treating me.'
The government has awarded £2.4 million to facilitate the development of the tests, called miONCO-Dx, which is made by British startup Xgenera.
It requires ten to 15 drops of blood and costs £120 to £300 per test.
Researchers say that initial tests involving 20,000 patients show that it is 99 per cent accurate.
Later today, health secretary Wes Streeting will visit a new lab funded by Cancer Research UK, which has been renamed in memory of Dame Deborah James.
The campaigner, columnist and podcast host died of bowel cancer in June 2022, aged 40, after raising £7.5million for her BowelBabe fund for Cancer Research UK, which aimed to transform disease survival rates.
Bowel cancer is on the rise, but not well understood, with Deborah just 35 when she received her diagnosis.
The new BowelBabe laboratory, at the Francis Crick Institute in London, will bring together leading scientists to advance our understanding of bowel cancer.
Mr Streeting, who was treated for kidney cancer while shadow health secretary, said: 'From my own experience, I know the devastating toll cancer can take on patients and families, and how many of them have been faced with long waiting lists to get the diagnosis and treatment they deserve.
'We know that the key to surviving cancer is catching it as early as possible.
'So this Government is taking the urgent action needed to make sure that happens through our plan for change.
'From developing world-leading technology to detect bowel cancer earlier, through to setting up hubs for the UK's top scientists to research and treat the disease.'
He added: 'Dame Deborah James dedicated her life to raising awareness for cancer and finding ways that we can beat it, so it is only right that we honour her legacy by investing in research to help stop one of the country's biggest killers.'
There are around 44,000 cases of bowel cancer every year in the UK and 142,000 in the US, making it the fourth most common cancer in both countries.
But cases are rising in young people, an alarming trend that experts have linked to modern diets, chemical exposure and lifestyles.
Cancer Research UK estimates that over half (54 per cent) of bowel cancer cases in the UK are preventable.
Symptoms often include changes in bowel movements such as consistent and new diarrhoea or constipation, needing or feeling the need to poo more or less frequently and blood in the stool.
Stomach pain, a lump in the stomach, bloating, unexpected weight-loss and fatigue are among other signs.
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