Blood test offers hope for better lung cancer treatment - The Washington Post

Blood test offers hope for better lung cancer treatment - The Washington Post

Blood test offers hope for better lung cancer treatment

By Marilynn Marchione | AP April 26



FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 12, 2005 file photo, Dr. Claudia Henschke, chief of the Division of Chest Imaging, right, and CT supervisor Gus Daphnis watch the lung scan of a patient at New York Hospital - Cornell Medical Center in New York. The test, called a spiral or helical CT scan, detects lung abnormalities as small as 5 millimeters, less than a fifth of an inch. In results published Wednesday, April 26, 2017 by Nature and the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers have taken an important step toward better lung cancer treatment. Using experimental tests that detect bits of DNA that tumors shed into the blood, they were able to track genetic changes in early-stage cases over time, and to find some recurrences up to a year before imaging scans could, giving a chance to try new therapy sooner. (Richard Drew/Associated Press)