Blood Test May Revolutionize the Way Cancer is Detected and Treated

Most cancers can be treated successfully if they are diagnosed early enough. But a lot of the screenings that we have today miss some of the cancers or are too expensive to use on a regular basis.

It has recently been shown that mammograms can miss some kinds of cancers and some women don't even get them. Some don't do the breast self-examination on a monthly basis like they are supposed to. By the time the cancer has been detected it has spread or serious surgery has to be performed.

Doctors don't routinely check for skin cancer. It's really up to the patients to check, especially if they have been out in the sun and suffered some serious sunburns which can make them more susceptible. Doctors have a blood test now that screens for prostate cancer, but that can show a false negative.

Colon cancer screening takes a couple of days to prepare for and most people don't think of getting them until it is too late. And the early stages of lung cancer can't be detected with a routine chest X-ray. It takes a MRI which is very expensive and a lot of insurance companies won't cover the cost for a routine exam.

So cancer remains one of the top, if not the top, killers. So imagine if a blood test could develop that would "count" the number of cancer cells that are circulating throughout your body at any time?

According to Medical News Today:

"Using next-generation Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) technology to capture, count and characterize circulating tumor cells in patients' blood, Johnson and Johnson and Massachusetts General Hospital hope to equip doctors with a more advanced non-invasive way to find out from a few cells how much a cancer has spread."

The test, which should be ready by the end of the year, will first be used to monitor how well the chemotherapy is working in patients who currently have cancer. Circulating tumor cells are cells that break away from the cancerous tumor and spread throughout the body. Some day the test might be useful in detecting cancer cells in the body, showing a strong possibility of a tumor.

The doctors could also examine the cells not only to see how the therapy was working but also to more closely identify the type of cell and customize treatments that are individual to the patient.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment continues to to evolve, and with a little help from stem cells and genetic science, we may just find a cure after all.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/212627.php