Non-invasive accurate blood test for prostate cancer
For men, one of the most dreaded moments could be hearing, “We’re not yet sure, but your PSA is high; you’ll have to come for further tests.” This could start a chain of events which ends in the diagnosis of prostate cancer - including a prostate biopsy, and ending in a major surgery for prostate removal. And after all this, the cancer often turns out to be a very slow-growing tumor that could have well been left alone, even while some patients suffer complications from the biopsy and/or surgery. This could all change with a new simple but highly accurate blood test that actually detects prostate cancers which need treatment, and nothing else.
The new test only requires a blood sample, which is much less invasive than a biopsy. Yet scientists predict that it will complement the test in current use, called the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test, enabling doctors to diagnose aggressive prostate cancer correctly in 90% of test-positive patients, without having to do biopsies. It can thus avoid over-diagnosis and over-treatment of this condition.
By enabling accurate and early diagnosis, this test could help immensely to bring down the suffering due to prostate cancer which is the most common malignancy in men in developed countries. Each year, it gives rise to 1.3 million cases all over the world.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario