Two new tests aim to spot heart disease and bladder cancer faster

A standard electrocardiogram, or ECG, records the heart’s electrical activity. It is a quick test that can help clinicians identify problems such as heart attacks and abnormal heart rhythms.

Researchers at Imperial College London developed software to look for patterns in ECGs that human specialists cannot see. According to the supplied news report, the tool was tested in a trial involving 67,000 patients.

The report says the software correctly identified up to 81% of patients who had heart failure and 90% of those who had heart valve disease. Heart failure means the heart is not pumping blood as well as it should. Heart valve disease involves problems with valves that help keep blood moving in the right direction through the heart.

The potential appeal is speed. The report says people may wait months for an echocardiogram, an ultrasound scan that shows the heart’s structure and movement. If an ECG could help flag people who need further checks, it might help services decide who should be assessed sooner.

But the information provided leaves important questions unanswered. The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiology’s annual congress, and the supplied material does not say they were published in a peer-reviewed journal. It also does not provide the rate of false alarms, the exact definition of a positive result, or details such as how the tool performed across different patient groups.

That means the reported percentages alone cannot show how the software would work in everyday care. They also do not show whether using the tool leads to earlier treatment, fewer complications, or better survival. Larger, fully reported studies would need to address those questions before the tool’s role in routine care is clear.

A separate UK study examined a urine test called Galeas for bladder cancer. Bladder cancer is usually investigated with tests that can include cystoscopy, in which a small camera is passed through the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of the body.

The Galeas test was trialled among 964 patients across seven urology departments in England and Scotland. The study, led by the University of Birmingham and published in European Urology Oncology, reported that the test correctly identified 92.2% of cancer cases.

That result is encouraging, particularly because a urine test could be simpler and less invasive than cystoscopy. The report says only 8% of people in the study were ultimately diagnosed with bladder cancer, highlighting that many people entering an urgent diagnostic pathway may not have the disease.

Still, correctly identifying cancer cases is only one part of judging a diagnostic test. The supplied report does not state how often the urine test gave a positive result in people without cancer. It also does not describe how samples were collected, which patients were included, or whether the test could safely reduce the use of cystoscopy.

Researchers plan larger studies. Those studies will be important for showing how the test performs in broader groups of patients and whether it can support, rather than simply add to, existing diagnostic pathways.

Together, these reports show how digital tools and less invasive testing may help make diagnosis more efficient. For now, they are promising findings rather than proof that current heart or bladder cancer testing can be replaced.