Urine check to spot bladder disease early

A URINE test could predict whether you’re likely to develop bladder cancer – up to 12 years before symptoms appear.

Researchers developed the check, which is cheaper and less invasive than current ones, after identifying mutations across ten genes that strongly indicate the presence of the disease.

Some 10,000 people a year are diagnosed with bladder cancer in the UK. Researchers at the International Agency for Research on Cancer in Lyon, used urine from the Golestan Cohort Study, which has tracked 50,000 people over ten years.

The team tested samples from 29 participants who developed bladder cancer. The test predicted the cancer in 19 of those, even though samples had been taken up to 12 years before diagnosis.