NHS TRUSTS TO TRIAL AI BLOOD TEST FOR WOMB CANCER

Two NHS trusts plan to introduce an AI-powered blood test to identify womb cancer in postmenopausal women, potentially sparing thousands from invasive diagnostic procedures. The PinPoint blood test is being rolled out by Mid Yorkshire NHS teaching trust and Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust following a trial of 16,481 patients across 170 general practices in Yorkshire. The test achieved a 99% accuracy rate in both detecting and ruling out gynaecological cancers among the 3,313 women in the trial who were referred due to heavy bleeding.

Around 90,000 postmenopausal women are referred annually in England by their GP for investigation of possible womb cancer following abnormal bleeding. Current diagnostic practice requires all referred women to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound scan, which many find uncomfortable or painful, even when cancer is not ultimately diagnosed. According to trial data, approximately one in ten of these 90,000 women are found to have cancer. The PinPoint test could spare around 18,000 women per year from undergoing this procedure if implemented across the NHS system.

Mid Yorkshire NHS teaching trust intends to use the test for six types of gynaecological and upper gastrointestinal cancer. Leeds teaching hospitals NHS trust will deploy it for gynaecological cancers. PinPoint Data Science, the Leeds-based company that developed the test, specialises in statistical analysis of medical data. The blood test was developed following the trial's successful results, which showed superior accuracy compared to conventional diagnostic testing methods.