A multicancer blood test did not reduce late-stage diagnoses after three screening rounds

The edition in brief

The NHS-Galleri trial, published in September, randomised 142,250 people aged 50 to 77 in England to annual multicancer early-detection blood testing plus usual care, or usual care with blood stored. After three rounds, the incidence of stage III or IV cancer across 12 prespecified types did not differ (IRR 1.03, 0.92–1.14); stage IV cancer was lower with borderline significance (IRR 0.86, 0.74–1.00). STAMINA randomised 700 men on androgen deprivation therapy across 15 NHS trusts to 12 months of supervised aerobic and resistance exercise with dietary and behavioural support, or optimised usual care; prostate cancer quality of life (mean difference 4.5 points) and fatigue (1.9 points) improved. TOSYMA, in about 99,000 German women, found 14.2 against 18.6 invasive interval cancers per 10,000 screen-negative women over 24 months with tomosynthesis versus digital mammography, a difference that did not reach significance (OR 0.76, 0.55–1.06). The pearl covers what to tell patients who ask about a multicancer blood test.