London: Scientists have developed a blood test for prostate cancer that could save thousands of men from unnecessary biopsies.
According to experts, this breakthrough will help to diagnose this disease. Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men in the UK. Men who go to their general physician and have symptoms of the disease are given a blood test called PSA, the results of which can be potentially false.
The new method diagnosed 91 percent of positive cases in 210 men (who were suspected of having prostate cancer). The number of false positives for men who did not suffer from the disease was zero. So this new method could save thousands of people from having to undergo painful biopsies or MRI scans that could potentially produce false results.
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 the blood test on men who had symptoms of this cancer (such as an enlarged prostate or bladder).
One-third of these men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, while two-thirds had a slight deterioration in the condition of the prostate.
Of the 68 people with cancer, 56 tested positive, while the results of the remaining six were not negative but inconclusive. All 142 men who did not have prostate cancer had negative blood test results.
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