You Could Have Cancer Without Any Symptoms; A New Blood Test Shows, Says Study

New Delhi: There is news on the cancer front, especially for those in the fifty-plus age group. You may have no symptoms but tests could show that you have cancer. A new blood test has successfully screened multiple cancers in patients who were yet to show any symptoms. The test was conducted among 6,662 individuals as part of a Pathfinder Study by GRAIL, a healthcare company working on improving cancer screening.

The test was conducted among patients 50 years and above as they are at an elevated risk for cancer. The results of the tests were presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2022 in Paris, India Today reported. The study found cancer in about 1 per cent of participants, including types for which there is no established screening method. This is the first time that the results of the test have been published. The Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) test was measured using both an earlier version of Galleri (MCED-E) and a refined version of Galleri (MCED-Scr).

According to researchers, the earlier version of the test was refined to reduce the detection of pre-malignant hematologic conditions, which are fairly common and improve prediction of the cancer signal origin.

“When added to standard of care screening, MCED testing more than doubled the number of cancers detected compared to standard screening alone. In fact, Galleri detected more cancers than all U.S. Preventive Services Task Force-recommended standard single cancer screenings combined. These included Stage I cancers of the liver, small intestine, and uterus, and Stage II pancreatic, bone, and oropharyngeal cancers,” Jeffrey Venstrom, MD, chief medical officer at GRAIL, was quoted as saying in a statement.

The findings

• The cancer signal was detected in 92 patients
• Of these, 35 participants were diagnosed with 36 cancers
• Among the confirmed cancers, 71 per cent of participants had cancer types that have no routine cancer screening available.
• The cancer signal origin prediction had 97% accuracy and after clinical treatment, there was a resolution of the cancer diagnosis in less than three months for most participants.
• The new test is likely to enhance cancer screening and devise better treatment strategies earlier than expected. Participants were through imaging procedures, such as scans or MRIs, following true and false-positive results, and most true positive participants (82%) underwent an invasive procedure to confirm a cancer diagnosis.

“While PATHFINDER was not designed to determine sensitivity or the number of cancer types detected by Galleri, 11 different cancer types were detected in this study that have no standard screening today, and the false positive rate was less than 1 per cent,” Jeffrey Venstrom added.