A blood test detects 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear

Samples for blood tests. PEXELS The technology, not yet available for large-scale use, detects cancers in early stages; but it also gives false positive resultsIn the public health system of the United Kingdom they consider that this type of test can be “a game changer” in the fight against cancerThe available results correspond to a trial with 6,600 people, but another larger study is expected with 165,000 volunteersIt can be an important tool in the fight against cancer. A team of oncologists from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York has presented at the last congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), held in Paris, a blood test that is capable of detecting 50 different types of cancer in stages very early, before symptoms even appear. From the public health system in England there is already talk that it can mean “a change in the game” against this disease. The study was carried out with 6,600 people over 50 years of age. All of them underwent these tests and 92 cases of cancer were detected, in most cases in early stages and of types for which routine screening is not usually done at the moment in health systems. Before the end of the year, the British health authorities will release the results of a larger study, carried out with 165,000 volunteers.Limitations of the testsOf the 92 people with cancer, 35 were later confirmed to have solid tumors or cancer in the blood. There was a woman in whom two cancers were detected, breast and endometrial. Pancreatic and ovarian cancers, which are often diagnosed late, were identified. The blood test not only identifies the cancer but also what part of the body it may affect, helping to locate it faster. The test, however, came back positive in cases where subsequent tests did not find any cancer. Only in 38% of the positives was the presence of the disease subsequently confirmed. And 99.1% of the volunteers who were tested had a negative result. What does the test consist of? This means that in most healthy people the test did not provide any substantial improvement. In return, for the minority who do have the disease detected early, it can make a big difference in the effectiveness of their treatment and their chances of survival, as it allows therapies to be started before the cancer enters an advanced stage of development. The analysis consists of looking for traces of carcinogenic DNA in the blood of people, the genetic trace in the blood from the presence of a tumor in the body. The technology is not yet available for widespread use among the population. One of the main doubts are the cases of false positives registered, because they involve carrying out diagnostic tests, sometimes invasive, to healthy people who do not need it and using resources from the health system to carry them out.