United States: On Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new screening test for colorectal cancer. It uses only a blood sample and can detect cancers that have not advanced and are normally manageable.
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For several, a simple routine blood test is more accessible than a colonoscopy or fecal sample test. But the blood test developed by Guardant Health of Palo Alto, California, has a catch. Unlike other screening tests for colon and rectal cancer, it has a poor track record in detecting potential precancerous growths.
However, if removed, some of those growths can help prevent cancer.
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The Shield test is expected to be out in a week. The company’s website has an online catalog with detailed descriptions, and it will display the list price at that time, said Matt Burns, a Guardant spokesman.
It is recommended for patients 45 and above with an average risk of colon cancer, as the News York Times reported.
The expectation is that while the blood test has a drawback, more people will come for colon cancer check-ups since it is the second most common cancer killer in the United States of America.
Colorectal cancer alone will claim up to 53,000 Americans this year alone.
Regular screening is advisable
These deaths can be prevented by regular screening, which ranges from 73 percent of those total deaths. However, while today, guidelines for most tests suggest that they begin at age 45, 25 to 50 percent of the individuals who should be screening themselves are not.
The issue here is to encourage more clients to go for the screening. That is where the new test comes in. It steps in at that stage. It is easy for patients—the blood sample can be procured at the place of a general check-up with the physician or at places that offer other sorts of lab services for money, as the News York Times reported.
It is applied in the Shield test, which relies on the fact that cancer cells and large polyps, which are masses of cells on the lining of the colon that sometimes develop into cancers, discharge DNA fragments into the blood.