New test helps to rule out bladder cancer in two hours

Using a newly invented test to detect MCM5 in urine, urologists can rule out bladder cancer

The time to help speed up diagnosis is now, especially since COVID-19 has created long waiting lists in hospitals around the world, with people having urgent follow-up sessions put in queue due to the pandemic. Regarding cancer treatment this is even more detrimental since delays could cause various tragic complications. A recent clinical trial involving 3000 bladder cancer patients has shown that Arquer’s Diagnostics’ ABDXBladder is a test which can aid urologists in excluding the presence of high-risk bladder cancer.
This data was presented at the European Association of Urology congress at the end of July and published in the journal of Urology, and it essentially shows that the clinical tests done investigating MCM5, show that ABDXBladder is able exclude the presence of bladder cancer in newly diagnosed patients and even those who need monitoring. Since cancer cells are always replicating, they contain MCM5, and when a tumour is suddenly present in the bladder, the cells are shed in the urine, and so it will also contain a mark of the MCM5. The test is also infection and inflammation proof.
Clinical lecturer and honorary consultant urologist Mr Stuart McCracken commenting on the matter said,

“COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on cancer services around the country. A simple, non-invasive urine test such as ADXBladder can be used to swiftly identify patients at risk of bladder cancer recurrence, and who require follow-up tests, but also confidently identify those patients not at risk, who can therefore be reassured and reviewed at a later date, when the current COVID-19 risk is lower. We now have a unique opportunity to look at the cancer pathways we are currently using, which have changed completely in a very short period of time. Rather than going back to where we were pre-COVID, there is now an opportunity to change them for the better, building on and perfecting what we have been doing during lockdown.”

Bladder cancer affects thousands of people a year in the UK and kills around 50% of patients, whilst around 46% survive for ten years or more.
Dealing with the backlog of patients will naturally be a huge test on the UK but it is the end goal since after all, everyone deserves not to have to wait for diagnosis and care. This new test from Arquer’s Diagnostics is definitely one step in the right direction.