A simple blood test can help doctors detect early stage lung and prostate cancers and also identify the probability of recovery or recurrence after the tumor is removed.
Cancer remains the second leading cause of death. Late detection of the disease is what makes the disease all the more fatal. Despite much advancement in cancer treatments, the detection of the disease in its early stage remains quite challenging. However, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic found that a simple blood test can make this detection possible.
Serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites may be used as screening biomarkers to help diagnose early stages of cancer, as well as identify the probability of recovery and recurrence after tumor removal, researchers found.
In the first part of the study, researchers looked at the blood samples of 55 patients with lung cancer and 40 patients with prostate cancer. These blood samples were compared to those of people without cancer. For the second part of the study, blood was examined preoperatively from 24 patients scheduled for curative lung cancer surgery and again at six and 24 hours after the surgery.
From the first part of the study, researchers found that patients with cancer had one to six times more serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites in their blood compared to the blood of people without the disease. In the second part of the study, researchers found that the number of serum-free fatty acids and their metabolites decreased by three to 10 times without 24 hours of tumor removal surgery.
"This is an exciting first step to having an uncomplicated way to detect early stages of lung, prostate and perhaps other cancers," said Daniel I. Sessler, M.D., chair of the Outcomes Research Department at Cleveland Clinic. "It could also be used to measure the success of tumor resection surgery, immediately after surgery and long-term for recurrence screening."
The American Cancer Society rates prostate cancer as the most common form of cancer among American men, only after skin cancer. Though there is a test to detect the cancer, the rate of false-positives is high, which leads to many unnecessary biopsies and complications. Lung cancer, on the other hand, is the leading cause of deaths caused by cancer among both men and women in America, reports the American Lung Association.
