Home prostate cancer screening trial could expand this year
A trial is being conducted for an innovative approach to prostate cancer testing
A few drops of blood and a mobile phone is all that is required for a new testing method for prostate cancer.
A trial being conducted at Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust could be expanded this year.
The testing method involves a simple finger-prick blood sample that patients can do themselves at home.
Results are then captured via an app, which is then securely sent to clinicians at the trust.
Dr Rav Sodi, a consultant clinical biochemist, said that barriers to testing were analysed, and that previous testing methods aren't "easily available when you go to your GP practices."
"Secondly, some men don't access the right tests at the right time.
"The idea is we send men a little kit, to take a few drops of blood onto the kit, and using their own mobile phones in their own homes they can then scan it."
"I think having a test that's easy to use, but you can use in the comfort of your own home, is a good thing.
"We know the NHS is struggling and our patients tell us they can't get appointments easily.
"Home testing, I believe, is a much better alternative in some situations, not all cases because some tests need to be done on site, but for the most part a lot of the blood tests that we do today can be done from home easily.
"I'm very confident that in the next few years we'll have better testing modalities for prostate cancer, and that can only be a good thing for our population."
"We're the first trust looking at capillary blood sampling to test prostate cancer. There are other groups looking at other ways of doing things."
Dr Sodi thanked Dr Isabella Maund and the research and development team based at Broomfield Hospital, and thanked Dr Andrew Botham from TestCard.