Blood test may help to detect lung caner

Non-small-cell lung cancer patients have a 40% chance of living for five years or more after diagnosis. 50% of patients die within the first year. It is the most common lung cancer.

Photo: Blood test may help to detect lung caner

If further studies confirm its reliability, this will become the first blood test to predict cancer since the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test, Medical News today reports.

You can read about this research in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology.

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer deaths globally. Data from the Global Lung Cancer Coalition says the cancer claims 10 million lives annually. Special X-rays known as computed tomography or CT scans are currently the only way to detect the cancer, but these scans have high rates of false-positive results.

Patients will need to undergo a painful procedure of biopsy to either confirm or negate their diagnosis. But most of the time, the lung cancer is detected too late. That is why the current blood test offers a new way of catching the cancer early.
The research team that developed the test was led by Edward Hirschowitz, M.D. and Li Zhong, Ph.D., of the University of Kentucky, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine. The team is currently engaged in developing a simple diagnostic test that would identify lung cancer in smokers, former smokers and other at-risk individuals at its earliest stages, Food Consumer reports.