Can a new blood test catch abdominal cancers earlier in the NHS?

More than 20,000 patients aged 45 and over with symptoms such as pain or persistent bloating will be eligible for a new blood test designed to detect multiple cancers at once, under a government-funded trial led by the University of Birmingham. The tests will be offered in around 200 GP surgeries in England and look for proteins or fragments of DNA in the blood that may signal cancer. The aim is to catch hard-to-diagnose abdominal cancers, including liver, ovarian and pancreatic cancer, much sooner.

The trial will assess whether the tests are accurate enough for wider NHS use. Abdominal cancers are often found only after they have spread, making early detection critical. If the trial succeeds, it could change how GPs investigate vague symptoms and lead to earlier diagnoses.

But the announcement comes after a separate NHS trial of a test called Galleri failed to meet its main goal of reducing diagnoses of late-stage cancers. Full results from the NHS-Galleri trial showed no reduction in the combined primary endpoint of Stage III/IV cancers in aggregate. However, the annual Galleri blood test reduced Stage IV diagnoses of 12 prespecified cancers by 22% and 26% in the second and third screening rounds, respectively. Researchers are still assessing its potential benefits.

The Galleri result does not mean the new trial will fail, but it shows that multi-cancer blood tests are not guaranteed to deliver on their promise.

The Galleri trial showed a signal in later screening rounds, but missed its primary endpoint.