A blood test that can detect cancer cells could save thousands of people from chemotherapy every year, reports BBC. Following a study carried out in Great Britain, it was discovered that for half of the patients tested, intravenous chemotherapy is useless.
And study The major breakthrough in colorectal cancer treatment was started by British researchers trying to determine whether the blood test could show when an operation has completely removed the tumor. Doctors say that half of patients with stage III colon cancer are cured after surgery, so chemotherapy would no longer be necessary.
Around 1,600 colorectal cancer patients were recruited for the UK study.
Intravenous chemotherapy is recommended to remove any remaining cancer cells after successful surgery and to reduce the risk of the tumor coming back. But in patients with colon cancer, oxaliplatin can cause painful tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, called peripheral neuropathy.
The test showed that the patient was completely free of cancer and freed from intravenous chemotherapy
This disorder of the peripheral nervous system can manifest itself in the long term. “I couldn’t handle it,” said Ben Cooke, a stylist and patron of a hair salon in Chelsea, London.
The 52-year-old joined the study at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, which is assessing whether a blood test can signal when chemotherapy is no longer needed.
Cooke’s test showed that he was completely cancer-free, so he avoided intravenous chemotherapy.
Instead, like everyone else in the study, Cooke did oral chemotherapy by taking one tablet twice a day. These have very little side effects and the Brit was able to go back to work. “The fact that I no longer had tingling in my hands was an absolute blessing,” revealed Cooke.
Microscopic traces of cancer found in the blood
New blood tests have the ability to detect microscopic traces of cancer in the bloodstream. These tiny fragments are invisible on x-rays.
Cooke’s result could apply to thousands of colorectal cancer patients who are treated each year.
“This is good for the patient, it’s good for the health service, it’s good for reducing costs for the NHS,” explained Dr Naureen Starling, lead investigator on the study, adding that everyone would benefit from these blood test.
The tests could soon be extended to lung and breast cancer patients. Dr. Starling said the potential of the new technology is “enormous”, not only for detecting residual disease after surgery, but also for early diagnosis.
What is already clear, after several studies, is that blood tests, also called “liquid biopsies”, can reveal the presence of residual lung cancer before it can be detected using traditional methods.
Cancer, discovered four years faster with the help of new blood tests
A clinical trial conducted in Greece, the results of which were published in January in the journal Naturefound that liquid biopsies could signal the recurrence of cancer at least four years before the disease could be detected by X-ray.
“I knew how toxic it could be,” Susanne Winter, an artist from Surrey diagnosed with stage III colon cancer, also said of the chemotherapy she had to undergo after undergoing successful surgery to remove the tumor.
“To hear that you’re not going to need her anymore is just unbelievable,” Winter explained.
The “holy grail” of cancer detection is the ability to discover the disease as early as possible at a stage where it is easier for the patient to heal.
Editor: Raul Nețoiu
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