Med School graduates to trial new cancer detection methods

From January 2012 the University Hospital Coventry & Warwickshire will begin trials for new methods of the detection of colon cancer, currently the third most common cancer.

A new and non-invasive method of colon cancer detection will mean that patients will no longer need to go through frequently unnecessary invasive procedures such as colonoscopies. Currently it is thought that this puts patients off going for a vital screening, especially as approximately 90 per cent of patients undergoing colonoscopies are given the all-clear after the procedure.

The team, made up of graduate researchers from Warwick Medical School and lead by Dr James Covington, will instead use equipment termed ‘electronic noses’ that can detect colon cancer by the presence of scents that are uniquely given off by the cancer. The trials will be based at the UHCW, which currently treats on average 200 patients a year. Other benefits to this new method of detection involve the fact that it is low cost and could easily be performed at a local GP or hospital.

On this occasion funding was provided by both the Warwickshire Private Hospital (WPH) Trust and the Eveson Charitable Trust which has supported ground-breaking research that will directly benefit the local community in line with the University’s 50 Forward campaign to raise £50 million in philanthropic donations by 2015, the University’s 50th anniversary.

Both foundations exist in order to provide funds to medical research projects such as this, but also provide aid to individuals with health problems.

Speaking to the University previously, Dr Ramesh Arasaradnam from the Warwick Medical School said that the team was “grateful to WPH and Eveson for joining forces to fund this work”. He also added that “This area of research will have impacts globally, but more importantly we will see the first benefits locally, here in Coventry.”