Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic have found that a simple blood test can detect early-stage lung and prostate cancer as well as predict the probability of a recurrence after a tumor has been removed.
The researchers say that early stage cancer is hard to diagnose, but this blood test screens certain biomarkers in cancer, such as serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites, which has led to diagnosis and prognosis sooner.
For the study, the scientists looked at blood samples from 55 patients with lung cancer and 40 patients with prostate cancer. They compared these blood samples to patients without cancer. In addition, blood samples were studied before 24 patients were scheduled for curative lung cancer surgery and again at six and 24 hours after their surgery.
They found that the cancer patients had one-to-six times greater concentrations of serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites in their blood compared to the blood of people without cancer. In the second phase of the study, they found that the serum-free fatty acid concentrations decreased by three to 10 times within 24 hours after the surgery to remove the tumor.
Researchers are hopeful that they may have found an uncomplicated way to detect early stage so lung and prostate cancer and potentially others.
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Sourced from: Science Daily, Simple Blood Test Can Diagnose Lung, Other Cancers