Scientists have shared promising news on a blood test that could detect breast cancer up to 5 years before symptoms begin. The researchers say that this test could be available by 2025 if research is fully funded.
Key Takeaways:
- Cancer researchers compared blood samples from 90 breast cancer patients to 90 patients without the disease, specifically testing for patients’ immune response to substances made by tumor cells.
- The next step is to test samples from 800 patients to improve the test’s accuracy. Further development is needed to validate this test.
- Benefits of a blood test for early breast cancer detection include lower cost, usefulness in low-income countries, and ease of screening compared to current breast cancer screening methods like mammography.
- Breast cancer is a heavy burden, and accounts for 15% of all cancer deaths among women. The WHO says that over 2 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year.
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Note: Despite this promising research development, mammography is still the current recommendation for breast cancer screening. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that women without a family history of breast or ovarian cancer get mammograms every 1-2 years starting at age 40.
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