A blood test can detect the second most common cancer in Finland – 2024-03-14 15:49:04

3,500 Finns get colon or rectal cancer every year. Adobe Stock / AOP

3,500 people get colon or rectal cancer every year in Finland. It is the second most common cancer in Finland.

A new study reports that a blood test screening for cancer tumor DNA identifies 83 percent of colon and rectal cancers.

The research is reported in Duodecim’s news.

It is as sensitive as stool screenings, but worse than colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is an examination of the colon. Colonoscopy means that the doctor examines the intestine from the anus to the small intestine with a flexible scope.

The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and involved nearly eight thousand patients aged 45-84 whose colon and rectal cancer had been confirmed by colonoscopy.

Blood samples were also taken from the patients and they were searched for extracellular DNA originating from cancer cells. The blood tests correctly identified the cancer in 83 percent of the cases, but 17 percent of the cancers would have been missed if they had been screened only with a blood test.

The test is currently used to monitor cancer recurrence. If the results published now are confirmed in further studies, the ctDNA test could also facilitate and enhance the early detection of colon and rectal cancer.

Approximately 3,500 new colon and rectal cancers are diagnosed in Finland each year. It is constantly becoming more common and is currently the second most common cancer in Finland.