I was still in high school when my classmate lost her mom to cancer. Poor Tracy was so utterly devastated that it affected her academic performance and as such her grades weren’t good enough to get her into the next class. Cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths, or one in six deaths in 2020.
So much effort has been made to put an end to this menace, one of which is a recent finding that seems to ignite glimmers of hope as it is the world’s largest trial of a revolutionary new blood test examined by the National Health Service (NHS) to detect cancer.
Reports have it that this test can curb so much as 1 in 10 cancer deaths in the UK by identifying above 50 types of cancer before their initial symptoms develop.
According to the Daily Mail, although there are no results yet, it is hoped that the practice of conducting the test can prevent as much as 10% of the nearly 460 cancer deaths that occur annually in the UK.
US company Grail considers the cancer test as a ‘turning point in how the NHS handles the disease since it would help detecting and treating for cancer way before symptoms become palpable.
Professor Peter Sasieni, one of the three lead researchers of the trial from King’s College London, said: “The potential of this blood test to dramatically cut the number of people who die from cancer is enormous. Of course, if the NHS rolls out the test, we will see some increase in short-term workload from the slightly higher number of referrals for cancer tests, but in the long run, there should also be many savings for the NHS, such as a reduction in the need for chemotherapy and expensive drugs for advanced cancers.”
This new test, known as the ‘Galleri test,’ is a very sensitive test that identifies tiny fragments of DNA associated with cancer that are distributed in the blood. It then detects cancer cells that are existent in the body before symptoms develop, hence this early detection can allow for early treatment.
Cancer Research UK and King’s College London, front liners in this investigation, sent out letters of invitation to people within the age bracket of 50 and 77. Those suspected of having cancer in their blood were referred to a scan within two weeks.
Nonetheless, the results of those who were referred to the hospital in the NHS trial are yet to be disclosed. Early results from the trial are believed to be shared with the NHS in 2024.
According to Cancer Research UK, cancer mortality can be reduced every two minutes when cases are identified and treated early, something the Galleri test hopes to achieve.
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