How to Detect Cancer Early Using Blood Test?
Early multi-cancer detection test using DNA pattern from blood shows promising results.  First author of the paper, Dr Eric Klein, chairman of the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, USA, said: "Finding cancer early, when treatment is more likely to be successful, is one of the most significant opportunities we have to reduce the burden of cancer. These data suggest that, if used alongside existing screening tests, the multi-cancer detection test could have a profound impact on how cancer is detected and, ultimately, on public health" .The blood test detected cancer signals from more than 50 different types of cancer and found that the sensitivity or true positive rate of the test across all four cancer stages (I, II, III, IV) is 51.5% and the false positive rate is only 0.5%.The overall sensitivity of the test is twice that for solid tumors that do have screening options, such as breast, bowel, cervical and prostate cancers.The multi-cancer early detection test correctly identified the tissue in which the cancer is located in the body in 88.7% of cases.These data support the use of next-generation sequencing for the detection of cell-free DNA in blood samples as a tool for earlier detection of common cancers that account for a significant number of deaths and other health problems worldwide.A simple screening test that requires only a blood draw can provide an option for communities that have poor access to medical facilities.Developing technologies for early detection of cancer and therapeutic interventions with major efforts related to population awareness are the next frontier in cancer research to save millions of lives worldwide.Source: Medindia