Norwich scientists say home urine test could ‘revolutionise’ prostate cancer diagnosis

Scientists at the University of East Anglia and the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital have been developing a new prostate cancer test that they say could ‘revolutionise’ diagnoses.

Researchers say the test will be more sensitive than current methods and will be in the form of a collection kit that will enable people to do a urine test in the comfort of their own home.

It will be used for men who are suspected of having prostate cancer. It's able to pick up how aggressive the disease is and at what point men will need treatment, as well as ruling out those who do not have the disease.

Around 48,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK, and more than 11,000 die from it. Experts behind the Prostate Urine Risk (PUR) test say the new development is an important step towards getting more men tested.

The new test has been trialled on a small group of men already:

The charities Prostate Cancer UK and Movember have announced that they have awarded funding to the team at UEA to test this in a much larger group of men.

Researchers say they hope their findings will help to pioneer the development of other at-home collection tests in the future, including for bladder and kidney cancer.