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Quick blood tests to spot cancer: will they help or harm patients?


Investors are pouring billions into companies claiming they can analyse DNA to find the disease early. But some scientists question if they really work.

A pioneering group of people in the US and UK who have elected to take part in a new form of cancer screening known as multi-cancer early detection tests (MCED). The tests use gene sequencing or other novel technologies to detect fragments of DNA expelled by cancerous cells which circulate in people’s blood, allowing the identification of multiple types of cancer from a single blood draw. They have been hailed as “revolutionary” and “cutting edge” by British and US health chiefs.

Health bodies in both nations have set up MCED clinical trials in the hope that the tests can be rolled out to the population at large. The UK’s NHS is participating in a clinical trial of the Galleri test involving 140,000 patients. 

But not everyone is convinced the tests live up to the hype. Several health experts and scientists told the Financial Times that the tests could harm rather than help some patients due to risks associated with misdiagnosis, over-diagnosis and over-treatment.

Read full story (paywalled)

Source: The Financial Times, 17 May 2023

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