Early Detection with Urine and Cognition Assessment Multiplex (EDUCAM)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Early Detection with Urine and Cognition Assessment Multiplex - The EDUCAM study
IRAS ID
297593
Contact name
Richard Mair
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Early detection of cancer has been shown to improve the impact of cancer treatments and improve outcome for certain patients. However, many early detection methods utilise invasive tests e.g blood tests/cervical smear and/or exposure to radiation e.g mammography/CT imaging, limiting uptake and potential benefit. Moreover, centralised testing requires expensive facilities and staff to run them. Our study aims to detect early stage cancer using non-invasive tests without radiation exposure. We have designed these tests as an extension of normal activities (micturition and smartphone use) to boost participation.
Our previous research has shown that we can detect cognitive problems in participants with cancer using cognitive tests in both paper based and computerised electronic formats and that we can detect cancer DNA in the urine of patients with brain tumours. This current study aims to combine these two techniques to assess for additive benefit in the early detection of cancer. If successful, these scalable methods could be widely disseminated for use in various contexts such as GP surgeries and in the home.
These techniques will be optimised through the early detection research clinics run by the Alliance for Cancer Early Detection (ACED) in Cambridge, UK. All participants who come to these clinics will be eligible to join our study for a brief cognitive testing session and to provide a urine sample for analysis. The ACED clinic in Cambridge is scheduled to run until 2025 and we aim to continue for the duration of the clinic over this time frame to recruit participants for computerised cognitive testing and urine analysis for the purposes of cancer early detection.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
22/SS/0015
Date of REC Opinion
30 Mar 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion