Patient backs less invasive bladder cancer test

A grandmother who has beaten bladder cancer three times is backing a study designed to offer a less invasive way to detect the disease.

Security guard Brenda Irving from Essington had a tumour removed on each of the three occasions, having her treatment at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital.

Irving was one of about 4,600 people across England who joined the BC-Recon study into the effectiveness of a urine test to diagnose bladder cancer.

This is instead of inserting a camera into the urethra and guiding it into the bladder in a flexi cystoscopy, which the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust said could be "uncomfortable" and "result in complications".

University of Birmingham researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK, developed a urine test identifying the mutated DNA which comes from bladder cancer.

If proven accurate enough, the new test might see a wider rollout so that some patients avoid a cystoscopy.

Irving said that all she had to do was take a kit home, label it, and send the sample back in the post.

"It was so easy and not invasive and it was a lot quicker than waiting in hospital. I'd definitely do it again if I was asked because it's so quick," the 60-year-old said.

"If anyone is asked to do this I would tell them to do it. If that's all you have to do then more people might come forward to get checked."

Irving, who is a mother of three and grandmother of five, has now received two clear tests and is cancer free.

She is now only tested yearly after previous six-monthly check-ups.

The study was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), with funding providing two staff at New Cross Hospital for more than six months to recruit volunteers to the study.

The study has now closed with the results expected later this year.

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