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An AI blood test being trialled by the NHS could spare thousands of women a painful examination for suspected womb cancer.
Around 90,000 postmenopausal women in England are referred by their GP each year to be investigated for possible womb cancer because of heavy bleeding.
Around 10,000 women a year in England are diagnosed with the disease, also known as uterine or endometrial cancer, and 2,700 die from it.
The PinPoint blood test could save one in five of those women, around 18,000 a year, from undergoing a transvaginal ultrasound scan.
Dr Jacinta Walsh, a GP at King’s Medical Practice in Normanton, West Yorkshire, said: “It often takes up to six visits to a GP before we’re able to rule out cancer.
“PinPoint will help shortcut that process to deliver peace of mind earlier and free up our capacity to see other patients.”
The procedure involves inserting an ultrasound probe into the vagina to measure the thickness of the womb lining. Many women find it uncomfortable or painful.
Although 20 per cent of women referred turn out not to have the disease, all currently undergo a pelvic examination involving an ultrasound scan.
If doctors still suspect cancer, women may then have a tissue sample taken during a biopsy and a hysteroscopy, an examination of the inside of the womb.
Several NHS hospitals are introducing the blood test after a trial involving 16,481 patients referred by GPs at 170 practices in Yorkshire for nine different forms of cancer.
All the patients had the test, including 3,313 women referred because their bleeding raised concerns that they might have womb cancer.
The results showed that the test was 99 per cent accurate in detecting the gynaecological cancers found among the 3,313 women and ruling out their presence.
This was a higher success rate than conventional testing. About one in 10 of the 90,000 women referred because of heavy bleeding turned out to have cancer.
The findings have prompted Mid Yorkshire NHS Teaching Trust to plan to use the test for six types of gynaecological or upper gastrointestinal cancer.
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust plans to use it for gynaecological cancer.
The test was developed by Leeds-based PinPoint Data Science, which specialises in the statistical analysis of medical data.
It uses machine learning to assess whether someone is at low, elevated or high risk of cancer by analysing 30 blood markers.
Professor Sean Duffy, the company’s chief medical officer and a former NHS England national clinical director for cancer, said the test’s 99 per cent accuracy for womb cancer “is remarkable by any clinical standards”.
He added: “But equally, its value lies in safely ruling out very low-risk women. This has the potential to spare thousands of patients from painful invasive procedures they do not need.”
Brent Kilmurray, chief executive of the Mid Yorkshire trust, said there was an “especially compelling” case for hospitals to use the PinPoint test to detect gynaecological cancers.
Tracy Jackson, a consultant gynaecologist and cancer unit lead at the Leeds trust, said women referred by GPs currently undergo a transvaginal scan and, if needed, a hysteroscopy.
She said: “But the reality is that most women we see do not have cancer and we are acutely aware that the investigations can be uncomfortable and, for some, distressing.
“The PinPoint test gives us a way to triage more intelligently. If we can confidently rule out low-risk women in primary care, we reduce unnecessary invasive procedures and shorten our waiting lists.
“That means the women who do have cancer can be seen, diagnosed and treated earlier, which is exactly where our focus should be.”
Cancer Research UK said the PinPoint test appeared “promising”.
Samantha Harrison, a spokesperson for the charity, said: “Spotting cancer early saves lives, but right now patients are not being diagnosed quickly enough.
“This test could help to rule out endometrial cancer in some women, through a simple blood test, without the need for further testing.
“More research is needed to understand the benefits for patients and the NHS, but the results of this study are promising.”
