Simple urine test can pick up 9 in 10 bladder cancers

A trip to the doctor for blood in the urine can set off a chain of events that many patients dread: scans, specialist appointments and an invasive procedure known as a cystoscopy to look inside the bladder.

However, new research published in European Urology Oncology suggests that process may soon change.

A team led by researchers in England, at the University of Birmingham and Nonacus Ltd., have tested a DNA-based urine assay that was able to identify more than nine out of 10 bladder cancers in patients referred for urgent investigation of blood in the urine, raising hopes for a quicker and less invasive way to detect the disease.

The test, known as GALEAS Bladder, analyzes DNA shed into urine and searches for mutations across 23 genes linked to bladder cancer.

Researchers evaluated the assay in a real-world study involving 964 patients attending hematuria clinics across seven National Health Service (NHS) hospitals between October 2024 and June 2025.

Of those patients, 77 were ultimately diagnosed with pathology-confirmed bladder cancer. The urine test correctly detected 71 of those cases, giving it a sensitivity of 92 percent.

Bladder Cancer Urine Test Moves Into Clinical Use

Study co-author Douglas Ward, a senior research fellow at the University of Birmingham, said the technology has already begun making its way into clinical practice.

“GALEAS Bladder is now available for urologists to purchase with the assay performed in the company’s ISO 15189-accredited labs,” Ward told Newsweek.

The test is reimbursed by several private health care providers, including Bupa and the London Clinic, and has already been adopted by multiple NHS trusts and health boards.

Ward said the test is now in routine use across parts of the Midlands, including University Hospitals Leicester and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, as well as in Wales at Hywel Dda and Aneurin Bevan health boards.

“It has been used to clear cystoscopy waiting-list backlogs that have since been eliminated,” he said. “This multi-region deployment, with impacts already being realized and firm plans for wider national rollout, reflects a mature impact case study.”

The test also identified all 17 muscle-invasive bladder cancers and 35 of 36 high-grade tumors, the forms of the disease that are generally considered the most aggressive.

Why Earlier Detection Could Reduce Invasive Procedures

Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers of the urinary system. While survival rates are often high when the disease is found early, symptoms can be overlooked or attributed to less serious conditions.

According to the NHS, the most common warning sign is blood in the urine, while other symptoms can include pain or burning during urination, needing to urinate more often or more urgently than usual, recurrent urinary tract infections, unexplained weight loss, back pain and persistent fatigue.

At present, many patients with suspected bladder cancer undergo cystoscopy, a procedure in which a thin tube fitted with a camera is inserted through the urethra to examine the bladder.

Although effective, it is invasive, resource-intensive and uncomfortable for some patients.

One of the study’s most striking findings was the test’s negative predictive value of more than 99 percent, meaning a negative result was highly reliable for ruling out cancer in this group of patients.

Using modeling based on the study data, the team estimated that the assay could eliminate roughly 730 urgent cystoscopies for every 1,000 patients investigated for hematuria, while still identifying the vast majority of cancers.

The authors cautioned that the research was observational and conducted over a limited time frame. They noted that longer-term follow-up would be needed to further validate the findings.

However, Ward said momentum is building behind the technology. He noted that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has prioritized urinary biomarkers for bladder cancer as a topic for HealthTech evaluation this year, while additional NHS organizations are in the process of introducing the test.

Reference

Silcock, L., Hastings, R.K., Clokie, S., et al. (2026). Real-World Multicentre Evaluation of GALEAS Bladder for Detecting Bladder Cancer in UK NHS Haematuria Clinics. European Urology Oncology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euo.2026.08.005

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Kara Dolman and Shakeema Edwards.