by A blood test to detect more than 50 types of cancer has shown promise in a large study carried out by the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), allowing it to speed up diagnosis.
According to the British daily The Guardian, the study involved 5461 people with symptoms in England and Wales who were referred to hospital by their GP for suspected cancer. The analysis correctly detected two out of three cancers among study participants who actually had a disease.
As explained in a statement by the Californian company Grail (which developed the test), 368 (6.7%) of the 5461 patients who underwent this study were diagnosed with cancer through traditional methods, such as exams and biopsies. The blood analysis, in turn, identified a sign of cancer in 323 people, 244 of whom were actually diagnosed with cancer later.
The overall sensitivity of the test was then 66.3% — which means that out of 100 people known to have cancer, the test result will be false negative in about 34. This prevalence varies according to the patient’s age and the stage of the cancer. . The mean age of patients was 62.1 years.
The first step towards testing a new way to identify cancer as quickly as possible, pioneered by the NHS – early detection of cancer is vital and this test could help us detect more cancers at an early stage and help save thousands of lives . https://t.co/xkFYHMkylP
-Peter Johnson?? (@PWMJohnson) June 2, 2023
In addition, in 85% of positive cases, an analysis was also able to identify the origin of the cancer, that is, which organ was affected, according to the results of the studies cited by the The Guardian.
The test, called Galleri, detects small fragments of tumor DNA (released by tumor cells) in the bloodstream.
According to researchers at the University of Oxford, quoted by the BBC, this remains a “work in progress”, but could increase the number of cancers identified early.
Test could be applied to a million people
Despite not having been rigorous enough to “exclude or not cancer”, the test proved to be very useful in the diagnosis, explained, in statements to the BBC, Mark Middleton, principal investigator of the university of oxford.
“The test was 85% accurate in detecting the origin of the cancer — which can be very useful because it is often not immediately clear, when we have the patient in front of us, which test is needed to check if their symptoms are present. are related to cancer,” said Mark Middleton. with test, “we can decide whether to order a scan or an ultrasound and make sure we are getting the test right the first time,” he added.
The results are presented at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (in Chicago), which takes place from June 2 to 6, and will be published in the scientific journal The Lancet Oncology.
The NHS has also used this test on thousands of people without symptoms to see if a test can detect hidden cancers. Preliminary results are expected to be released later this year and, if extended, the NHS plans to scale up or test it to around one million people in 2024 and 2025 in England.
The BBC also highlighted that the test is particularly effective in detecting cancers that are difficult to identify – such as cancers of the head and neck, intestine, lungs, pancreas and throat.
“This study is the first step to test a new way to identify cancer as quickly as possible, being a pioneer in the NHS. Early detection of cancer is vital and this test can help us detect more cancers at an early stage and help save thousands of lives.”
In turn, David Crosby, a researcher at the Cancer Research UK charity association, in the United Kingdom, warns that “much more research is needed in a larger trial” to find out whether this test “can improve the assessment of general practitioners and , ultimately, patient outcomes”.
