The test works by detecting traces of a tumor's DNA before it has fully recurred and was found to be 100 percent accurate in predicting which patients' cancer will return, the BBC reports.
While experts have called the development "incredibly exciting", it is still in the early stages.
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease worldwide, according to Breast Cancer UK, with 2.26 million women diagnosed in 2020 and 685,000 deaths that same year.
A team of researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) London conducted tests on 78 patients with different types of early breast cancer, discovering 1,800 mutations in the patient's blood that are released by cancer cells.
These circulating tumor DNA were found in 11 women, all of whom saw recurrence of their cancer.No other woman has seen her cancer recur.
Cancer is detected 15 months before symptoms appear in a blood test or the disease shows up on a scan, according to results presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.
The first diagnosis was made at 41 months.
"Breast cancer cells can remain in the body after surgery and other treatments, but these cells may be so few in number that they are not detected on follow-up scans," said lead researcher Dr. Isaac Garcia-Murillas of the ICR. " However, they can cause patients to relapse many years after their initial treatment.The study, which tested blood samples at the point of diagnosis, then after surgery and chemotherapy, and repeated the procedure every three months for the next year and every six months for the next five years, improved monitoring after treatment. Prepares the basis for. And potentially life-extending treatments, he said.
Researcher Dr Simon Vincent, director of research, advocacy and impact at Breast Cancer Now – who part-funded the study – said: “Early detection is one of our greatest weapons against breast cancer and these early findings "Showing that new tests may be able to detect signs of breast cancer recurrence up to a year before symptoms emerge is incredibly exciting."
Although acknowledging that research is still in its early stages, he said catching breast cancer recurrence earlier means treatment is more likely to destroy the cancer and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body and becoming incurable. .
While experts have called the development "incredibly exciting", it is still in the early stages.
Breast cancer is the most common form of the disease worldwide, according to Breast Cancer UK, with 2.26 million women diagnosed in 2020 and 685,000 deaths that same year.
A team of researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) London conducted tests on 78 patients with different types of early breast cancer, discovering 1,800 mutations in the patient's blood that are released by cancer cells.
These circulating tumor DNA were found in 11 women, all of whom saw recurrence of their cancer.No other woman has seen her cancer recur.
Cancer is detected 15 months before symptoms appear in a blood test or the disease shows up on a scan, according to results presented Sunday at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago.
The first diagnosis was made at 41 months.
"Breast cancer cells can remain in the body after surgery and other treatments, but these cells may be so few in number that they are not detected on follow-up scans," said lead researcher Dr. Isaac Garcia-Murillas of the ICR. " However, they can cause patients to relapse many years after their initial treatment.The study, which tested blood samples at the point of diagnosis, then after surgery and chemotherapy, and repeated the procedure every three months for the next year and every six months for the next five years, improved monitoring after treatment. Prepares the basis for. And potentially life-extending treatments, he said.
Researcher Dr Simon Vincent, director of research, advocacy and impact at Breast Cancer Now – who part-funded the study – said: “Early detection is one of our greatest weapons against breast cancer and these early findings "Showing that new tests may be able to detect signs of breast cancer recurrence up to a year before symptoms emerge is incredibly exciting."
Although acknowledging that research is still in its early stages, he said catching breast cancer recurrence earlier means treatment is more likely to destroy the cancer and prevent it from spreading to other parts of the body and becoming incurable. .