New Test for Womb Cancer Shows Promise in Reducing Invasive Procedures and Addressing Health Disparities
Researchers from the University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC): Manchester, have developed a new test for womb cancer. This test utilizes cells collected from urine and vaginal fluid to identify women at risk of endometrial cancer. Published in Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Women's Health, the study involved 1,864 women experiencing postmenopausal bleeding. The test demonstrated high accuracy, detecting over 80% of cancers when urine and vaginal cytology results were combined, and achieved a negative predictive value of 98.8% for womb cancer. This means women with a negative result are highly unlikely to have the disease. The test was particularly effective in identifying aggressive and advanced cancers, and notably, performed exceptionally well in Black women, a demographic twice as likely to die from womb cancer as White women in the UK. This development could...
