Cancer is one difficult illness to battle especially if it has been discovered during its last phase. Early detection of cancer, before it shows symptoms, is the best way to treat it as experts can already intervene and do something about it before cancer cells become more invasive to the body and difficult to cure.
These days, the most well-known way experts can test people whether they have cancer or not is through tissue biopsies. The process includes the extraction of a small sample of tissue, which will be sent to the doctors for observation.
Unfortunately, the process isn't an easy one, and even painful for patients, as reported by TIME. Good thing the American Association for Cancer Research discovered something that could make impossibilities happen, especially when it comes to screening cancer.
Researchers revealed that "a commercial blood test," also referred to as liquid biopsy, can be the newest and most effective way to detect cancer in the less painful, earliest, and easiest way. Its effectiveness can even be compared to tissue biopsy "at identifying important mutations in non-small cell lung cancers," the experts added.
The study, which was funded by Guardant Health (who is also the manufacturer of the test), with about 282 people from 28 different centers across the US were tested with both liquid biopsy named Guardant360, and tissue biopsy chosen personally by the doctor himself. This is to identify the "seven genetic markers in the tumors."
The Guardant360 was able to determine whether the patient is positive of cancer by picking up fragments of DNA, which tumors have shed through the blood, according to The Guardian. The test still has not received FDA's approval yet, but once it received its go signal, experts say it could really be a great help in the medical field.
The results revealed that the liquid biopsy was able to identify these mutations with almost the same accuracy as a tissue biopsy. The only difference between the two process lies in their speed and how invasive they can be.
Also, liquid biopsy requires lesser time to find the results than tissue biopsy. Also, it is not less invasive and less painful than the other.
Dr. Vassiliki Papadimitrakopoulou, professor of medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center and also the lead author of the study, said, "This study shows that liquid biopsy is accurate and detects [markers] at the same rate as standard-of-care tissue testing of tumor tissue."
Papadimitrakopoulou further explained how important the discovery of the study was. "This study gives us confidence that what is found in liquid biopsies really is what is found in the tumor," the professor added.
