New blood tests designed to check for multiple cancers in one go will be offered to NHS patients in some 200 GP surgeries in England as part of a trial, BBC News reports.

The aim is to find hard-to-diagnose cancers in the abdomen much sooner, the BBC says. These include liver, ovarian and pancreatic cancer. Such cancers are often found only after they have spread.

The tests look for proteins or bits of DNA in the blood that may signal cancer, the BBC reports. Results could help doctors decide which patients with vague symptoms need more checks.

More than 20,000 patients aged 45 and over with symptoms such as pain or lasting bloating will be able to take part, the BBC says. The government-funded trial is led by the University of Birmingham. It will test whether the blood tests are accurate enough for wider NHS use.

Patients will give one or two tubes of blood at their GP practice, alongside routine tests, the BBC reports. A positive result does not always mean cancer, and a negative result is not a sure all-clear.

The idea is not new, the BBC notes. A separate NHS trial of a test called Galleri recently failed to meet its main goal of cutting late-stage cancer diagnoses.

Around 71,000 people in England are diagnosed each year with pancreatic, stomach, liver, ovarian or bowel cancer, the BBC says. Nearly 35,000 die from these diseases.

Prof Peter Johnson, NHS England's national clinical director for cancer, said finding cancer in the abdomen early was “notoriously difficult,” the BBC reports. Symptoms can easily be mistaken for less serious problems.

Only BBC News has reported this so far, and NewsHabit hasn't seen independent confirmation.

What we know: A government-funded trial will offer multi-cancer blood tests in about 200 GP surgeries in England.
What we don't: When results will be known or whether the tests will be used more widely. No second outlet has confirmed the trial details yet.