Illustration from an article on cancer.

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Detecting endometrial cancer by a simple urine test is possible, announced British scientists on Friday, a procedure much less painful and invasive than the tests in place at the moment.

Currently, women are screened using a biopsy, that is to say a sample of cells inside the uterus, which sometimes also requires the introduction of a fine telescope.

But this painful procedure had to be repeated a second time for 31% of patients, due to technical problems or intolerable pain that hampered the examination.

Over 91% success rate in women who already have cancer

But a team of scientists from the University of Manchester has developed a new detection tool, based on the collection of urine or vaginal secretions, which could be carried out by self-sampling at home.

According to their study, published in the journal

Nature Communications

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this new system was able to correctly diagnose 91.7% of women who actually suffered from endometrial cancer - or cancer of the body of the uterus, distinct from cancer of the cervix, detected him with a simple smear -.

For women without endometrial cancer, the test showed an efficiency in diagnosing them negative of 88.9%.

"Our results show that cancer cells in the uterus can be detected in urine and vaginal samples using a microscope," said Professor Emma Crosbie, who led the study, quoted in a press release.

The sixth most common cancer in women

According to her, this method could be used to "sort out people suspected of having uterine cancer", for more in-depth examinations in the event of a positive test.

“Those who test negative will be reassured without having to undergo unpleasant, invasive, anxiety-provoking and expensive procedures,” she explained.

This "promising" study, which has so far involved 216 women, 103 of whom suspected or knew to be suffering from uterine cancer, will have to be "confirmed in a larger study", indicated the professor of gynecological oncology.

Endometrial cancer is the sixth most common cancer in women, with an estimated 382,000 new diagnoses and 89,900 deaths from the disease in 2018 worldwide.

While most women are treated soon after the onset of first symptoms - including the onset of bleeding after menopause - the 20% of women who are diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease have only 15 % chance of surviving beyond 5 years.

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  • United Kingdom

  • Uterus

  • Screening

  • Cancer

  • Health