//Prominent Disease//
Cancer has been with us for a long time and it’s estimated that every 1 in 6 deaths are due to cancer. Cancer treatments have evolved over the years and medicine has made great progress in treating various forms of cancer. Lifestyle is an important part of preventing cancer and observing as many healthy changes is a big part of avoiding cancer in advance. Recognising the signs of cancer can be difficult and many abnormalities in one’s daily life can be misdiagnosed. Researchers have now been able to detect the presence of various cancers via a specific blood test. Cancers that can be detected include lung, stomach, liver, bowel and gullet. This isn’t a tool for verification either, it can detect the presence of cancer by up to four years, a significant heads up to all patients.
//Early Traces//
Cancer treatment is difficult in its later stages. Resources, circumstances and a number of other factors sometimes make the disease a steep mountain to climb regardless of our current health technology and methods. Chances of survival increase significantly on early diagnosis and a head start in the range of multiple years is a truly beneficial tool for medicine to make use of. Tracking cancer via the PanSeer test, the traces of cancer have been pinpointed in the blood stream as it searches for DNA that is characteristic of tumour presence. It’s a significant breakthrough as research correctly identified cancers in a group of people without any symptoms that would otherwise go missed with current diagnosis techniques. Misdiagnosis is an unfortunate part of cancer detection and treatment but blood tests such as these may change the way the health industry works to battle the disease.
//Detection and the Future//
Screening patients on a regular basis isn’t always viable but as part of routine health checks will be an opportunity to detect early stages of cancer by up to four years. Cancer is life changing and any chance to fight it and reduce mortality needs to be given considerable attention. Detection that is non-intrusive and simple as a blood test is a huge step forward that could change the way cancer is diagnosed and treated in the near future. As with anything in the medicine world, the methods and costs involved with such tests will need to be adapted to practical implementations within various health care systems. Regardless of cost, it is encouraging to see advanced detection of cancer emerge in the form of a blood test and I hope further breakthroughs are made for detection, treatment and prevention.
Sources
https://www.sciencefocus.com/news/blood-test-detects-cancer-up-to-four-years-before-symptoms-show/