Detect Cancer With A Blood Test

A new blood test could lead to early detection of cancer.

Per  blood test to prove cancer is a possibility, that will be maybe in the future life. The method is minimally invasive, only blood has to be taken and analyzed. Tissue samples could therefore become unnecessary in the future.

Blood test instead of surgery

Being able to confidently detect cancer with a blood test would be an option that could not only save some people’s lives, but also lower health care costs.

Nowadays, for a definitive cancer diagnosis, a tissue sample always has to be taken with an invasive procedure, for example a small operation.

This will then be examined in a laboratory to see whether it is cancer or whether the ulcer is benign in nature.

Not only being able to detect cancer with a simple blood test, but also being able to diagnose the exact type of cancer would mean that cancer could be detected before larger canker sores made visible with imaging tests can form.

The treatment could start at an extremely early stage and thus increase the chances of recovery immensely.

Even during cancer treatment, a blood test could save the patient further surgery to take tissue samples. The blood test would make it easier to assess whether and how the treatment is working and working.

In particular, if the patient has already metastasized, it is impossible to really puncture every cancerous tumor. A blood test would also make it easier to check the success of the treatment.

Blood test shows cancer DNA

Research has developed a blood test with which it is possible to detect the smallest fragments of genetic material, DNA and RNA from cancer cells in blood serum.

These carry the genetic characteristics of the tumor and therefore do not only allow the diagnosis of cancer in general. They also make it possible to identify the exact type of cancer.

It would also be possible to easily notice a possible relapse and restart treatment.

This knowledge is not new, but until recently there was a lack of analytical technology to filter this genetic information from a blood sample.

Another advantage is that such a blood test can diagnose not only a certain cancer mutation, but all mutations present in the body.

On the other hand, if you take a tissue sample from a single tumor, you can only detect the type of mutation at this single point. Not any other mutations that may also be present. This enables a much more accurate and effective treatment.

Limitations of the procedure

One might think that this blood test would revolutionize cancer diagnostics, but unfortunately this is not the case.

The researchers point out that the procedure works very well for some types of tumors, but does not really produce satisfactory results for others.

For example, some tumors grow so slowly that they only release extremely little genetic material into the blood and are therefore difficult and seldom detectable by the blood test.

Unfortunately, some types of cancer, such as a brain tumor, cannot be detected with a blood test, but only with imaging procedures or tissue samples – which can be very stressful for the patient.

Other diseases such as much less dangerous inflammation or non-specific fever can also cause these so-called tumor markers to rise in the blood.

Among other things, this could lead to a misdiagnosis.

It is therefore unfortunately still a long way off to use the blood test for the reliable diagnosis of all cancer variants for early detection. Research still has a long way to go before the method provides reliable evidence for diagnosing all types of tumors.

Cancer prevention in everyday life

It will be a while before research is ready to use this blood test for cancer prevention.

Until then, you must continue to use the previously known methods to protect yourself against cancer or to diagnose cancer in good time. This includes, among other things:

• Regular checkups.
• A healthy lifestyle (e.g. no smoking).
• A healthy diet (without alcohol, with lots of fruit and vegetables).
• Closer control in the case of hereditary predisposition (family members with cancer).

Note: the sooner cancer is detected, the higher the chances of recovery and survival!

So please go to regular check-ups, for example skin cancer screening at the dermatologist, cancer screening at the gynecologist or urologist, etc. It’s your body and your life!