New Hope From Breakthrough Cancer Test

According to The Guardian, the Symplify study led by the University of Oxford (UK) for the Galleri blood test, which looks for markers of more than 50 types of cancer, suggests it could help speed up diagnosis and screening of patients. at medical facilities.

The test looks for fragments of small tumor DNA in the blood, alerting doctors to whether a cancer signal has appeared and where in the body it might be coming from.

The results, just released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago, show that the test correctly identified two-thirds of cancer cases out of a total of 5,461 participants, which was transferred by a general practitioner because of suspicion of cancer.

Of those positive cases, the test also pinpointed the exact location of the tumor in 85 percent of the cases. Accuracy is higher in older patients and people with advanced cancer.

The blood test, which diagnoses quickly, is less expensive and non-invasive than some other methods like biopsies, is easily accessible and gives more people the opportunity to get an early cancer diagnosis, reducing waiting times.

This method also reduces the total number of tests needed to diagnose cancer because it shows where in the body is likely to “signal” cancer into the bloodstream. Further testing steps will be needed before the technique can be applied in medical facilities.