Blood Test for Cancer Detection Possible, Non Invasive and Safe Liquid Biopsy

Liquid Biopsy uses a person�s blood or other bodily fluid to look for signs of cancer. It is non-invasive, safe, quick, easy and less painful than the tissue biopsy. Research on Liquid Biopsy for more than a decade has now ended with the discovery of a cancer diagnosis through blood. The present diagnostic method is much invasive, as it needs the collection of tissue samples from the affected body organs.

This cancer blood test is useful in detecting 8 kinds of tumors at the initial state, said co-author Daniel De Carvalho, a senior scientist at Princess Margaret Cancer Center. Dr. John Lewis, Department of Oncology at the University of Alberta said that it would help for early detection of potential cancer that needs a cure in the early state.

The presence of cancer cells can be diagnosed by viewing the presence of fragments of mutated DNA in the bloodstream or certain molecular changes in the blood through the microscope. Liquid biopsies also help to monitor the amount of shrinkage in the tumor during treatment or how much the cancer is growing, by monitoring the gene mutation that occurs. A computer program had been linked monitor the chemical changes taking place in the bloodstream and to find what kind of cancer the patient is currently suffering from.

These procedures still need improvement and tested before they make it to the public, said De Carvalho, and that will take still more years. He opines that identifying early detection will do the marvelous effect in treating the patients because the treatment becomes easier if it is detected at the initial states. 

Rayjean Hung, a Canada research chair in integrative molecular epidemiology in the Sinai Health System in Toronto says if it is too small, the affected area could be easily removed. It will cost even lives if not initially diagnosed and treated. The liquid biopsies are helpful for fast-growing cancers such as lung or pancreatic where the detection makes a wide difference.