Eric Klein, MD from the Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute at the Cleveland Clinic speaks about Blood Test That Detects 50 Cancers Before Symptoms Emerge Will Be Launched By The NHS This Year.
Link to Article:
https://inews.co.uk/news/health/blood-test-detects-50-cancers-symptoms-emerge-launched-nhs-2021-1070415
The NHS in England will pilot a simple blood test that can identify more than 50 kinds of cancer before any symptoms appear this autumn, with the goal of making it available to one million patients by 2025.
Scientists in the United States have discovered that the test is accurate enough to be used as a screening tool for those at higher risk of the illness, such as patients aged 50 and over who show no symptoms.
The trial will include 140,000 adults aged 50 to 77 who have no symptoms and will have three yearly blood tests.
The results should be available in two years, and if all goes well, the screening will be expanded to one million over-50s by 2025.
Researchers claim that the test correctly diagnosed cancer, frequently before any symptoms appeared, while having a very low false-positive rate, in an article published in the top cancer journal Annals of Oncology.
The test, created by Grail in California, also accurately identified where the cancer is situated in the body, which might aid clinicians in selecting appropriate diagnostic tests.
Many of the malignancies that the test can identify don’t have screening tests, including liver, pancreatic, and esophageal cancers, which are among the most dangerous and where early diagnosis might save lives.
It can also detect cancers that are difficult to detect early, such as head and neck cancers, ovarian cancers, and certain blood cancers.
Currently, 56% of malignancies in England are detected at stage one or two. By 2028, the NHS Long Term Plan aims to boost this to three quarters.
Participants in the English experiment will be selected and recruited based on NHS information. Anyone who has a cancer signal detected test will be sent to the NHS for further examination.