NHS is doing a ‘sponge on a string’ test for oesophageal cancer risk symptoms

The NHS is to offer a 10-minute “sponge on a string” test to 120,000 patients in England with heartburn to see if it should be used to screen millions of people for one of the world’s deadliest cancers.

Patients swallow a dissolvable pill attached to a thread that, when washed down with a glass of water, releases a sponge the size of a 50-cent coin to collect cells from the esophagus as it is retrieved.

It is then pulled out using the attached wire, allowing the collected cells to be analyzed to see if someone has done so Barrett’s esophaguscausing the risk of developing esophageal cancer.

Esophageal cancer – cancer of the esophagus – is on the rise and is closely linked to risk factors such as poor diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and having a hiatus hernia.

Trials have already shown that the test can reliably identify people with Barrett’s esophagus. Now doctors and scientists have launched a new study to show that using it in a targeted screening program can help prevent esophageal cancer and reduce the number of deaths from this disease.

The ‘sponge on a string’ test has attracted a lot of interest because it takes much less time than an endoscopy, is much less invasive, quicker to access and is £300 cheaper for the NHS to perform each time.

It is hoped that using the test to screen for the disease could save lives and reduce the need for the ‘labor-intensive’ endoscopy – a camera in the throat – which is the ‘gold standard’ for diagnosing this type of cancer and to treat.

The Best4 screening trial has been hailed as the “culmination of many years of painstaking research”. The first patients started the trial on Thursday and will be joined by 120,000 patients across Britain over the next three years.

People who regularly take medication for heartburn are invited to participate with a text message from the NHSh.

Prof. Rebecca Fitzgerald, director of the University of Cambridge’s Early Cancer Institute, invented the sponge test and is co-principal investigator of the Best4 study.

She said: “The capsule sponge will change the way we detect Barrett’s oesophageal and oesophageal cancer. Catching it earlier can save lives by reducing the need for chemotherapy and surgery to remove the esophagus.”

As part of the trial, patients will visit mobile vans for the 10-minute test, where they will be given a small, coated pill attached to a wire.

When this reaches the stomach, the coating dissolves and releases a small sponge. This collects cells from the esophagus as it is pulled from the stomach and then sent to be tested for signs that the patient may be at risk for developing esophageal cancer.

“Thousands of people have already benefited from trials and pilot programs, and now we’re taking the test to the next level to see if we can offer this to everyone with heartburn,” said Fitzgerald.

“The Best4 screening study could fundamentally change the lives of people affected by oesophageal cancer by providing the crucial evidence needed to make it a viable screening programme, rolled out to every part of the UK.”

The trial is supported by £6.4 million from Cancer Research UK and the National Institute for Health and Care Research.

Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research UK, said the test was one of the “most exciting early detection tools” to come to market in recent years. “After many decades of research, we are on the cusp of a definitive transformation of esophageal cancer diagnosis,” she says.