Marlow Laura A V, Schmeising-Barnes Ninian, Waller Jo
Centre for Cancer Screening, Prevention and Early Diagnosis, Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Queen Mary University of London, London, E1 1HH, UK.
Br J Cancer. 2025 Sep 9. doi: 10.1038/s41416-025-03180-5.
Multi-cancer detection (MCED) blood tests have the potential to screen for early-stage cancers. Understanding how people experience an MCED cancer signal result is vital prior to any future implementation. We explored experiences in a trial context.
A subset of 41 participants in the NHS-Galleri trial (NCT05611632), with a cancer signal detected result, were interviewed. We selected: 20 participants with cancer found (self-reported) and 21 without cancer (following tests). Transcripts were analysed thematically.
Expectations of cancer played a pivotal role in emotional, cognitive and social responses, and were influenced by participants' experiences of health and symptoms. While the cancer signal was often unexpected, the predicted cancer signal origin made sense when consistent with family history or health issues. During the period of diagnostic uncertainty, views of healthiness or lack of family history were sometimes used to self-reassure. For some, a cancer diagnosis was unexpected; for others, expectations of cancer had gradually increased. For those without cancer, believing that it could be present affected their sense of reassurance.
Information about the meaning of a cancer signal will be needed if MCED screening is implemented. Patient support could be designed around their expectations of cancer at each stage.
多癌检测（MCED）血液检测有筛查早期癌症的潜力。在未来实施之前，了解人们对MCED癌症信号结果的体验至关重要。我们在一项试验背景下探究了相关体验。
对英国国家医疗服务体系-加莱里试验（NCT05611632）中41名检测出癌症信号结果的参与者进行了访谈。我们选取了：20名确诊患有癌症的参与者（自我报告）和21名未患癌症的参与者（检测后）。对访谈记录进行了主题分析。
对癌症的预期在情绪、认知和社会反应中起关键作用，并受参与者的健康和症状体验影响。虽然癌症信号常常出乎意料，但当与家族病史或健康问题一致时，预测的癌症信号来源是合理的。在诊断不确定期间，健康观念或缺乏家族病史有时被用来自我安慰。对一些人来说，癌症诊断出乎意料；对另一些人来说，对癌症的预期逐渐增加。对于那些未患癌症的人，认为可能患有癌症影响了他们的安心感。
如果实施MCED筛查，将需要有关癌症信号含义的信息。可以围绕患者在每个阶段对癌症的预期来设计患者支持措施。
