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A swallowed sponge on a string can sample the oesophagus in a GP's office. Screen people with chronic reflux to catch adenocarcinoma at a curable stage.
The proposal is to screen adults with chronic reflux or long-term acid suppression for Barrett's oesophagus and early adenocarcinoma with a swallowed capsule sponge that can be given in a GP's office rather than by endoscopy. Oesophageal adenocarcinoma has a known precursor, a defined at-risk population and curative endoscopic resection for early disease; the missing piece has been an accessible test. In BEST3, reported in the Lancet in 2020, the Cytosponge-TFF3 test detected many more cases of Barrett's than usual care, and the NIHR-funded BEST4 trial now tests whether screening reduces deaths and shifts diagnosis to stage I. Being tested at scale, with EsoGuard methylation markers and AI histology as possible add-ons, it addresses the bottleneck that the hardest cancers are found late.
Shares Stage shift, Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), DNA methylation profiling, The hardest cancers are found late.
Shares Barrett's oesophagus, Endoscopic resection (EMR / ESD), Oesophageal cancer.
Shares Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), DNA methylation profiling, The hardest cancers are found late, Oesophageal cancer.
Shares Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), DNA methylation profiling, The hardest cancers are found late.
Shares Stage shift, Multi-cancer early detection (MCED), The hardest cancers are found late.
Shares Barrett's oesophagus, Endoscopic resection (EMR / ESD), Oesophageal cancer.
Shares Endoscopic resection (EMR / ESD), Oesophageal cancer.
Shares Barrett's oesophagus, Endoscopic resection (EMR / ESD), Stage shift, Oesophageal cancer.