Scientists have developed a blood test for prostate cancer that will protect thousands of men from unnecessary biopsy.
According to experts, this success will help in diagnosing this disease. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the UK. Those who go to their general physician and have symptoms of the disease, they are given a blood test called PSA, the results of which can possibly be wrong.
This new method diagnosed 91 percent of positive cases in 210 people (who were suspected of having prostate cancer). Those who did not suffer from this disease had zero false results. Therefore, with this new method, thousands of people can avoid painful biopsy or MRI scans, whose results may be misleading.
This new liquid biopsy works by obtaining prostate cancer tumor cells in the blood.
A team of researchers from India and Imperial College London tested this blood test on people who had symptoms of suffering from this cancer (such as enlargement of the gland or bladder).
One-third of these people were diagnosed with prostate cancer, while two-thirds had a slight deterioration in their prostate condition.
Of the 68 people with cancer, 56 tested positive, while the results of the remaining six were unclear, not negative. All the 142 people who did not have prostate cancer had negative blood test results.
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