'Holy grail of cancer research': doctors positive about early detection blood test
Source: The Guardian
A blood test for 10 different types of cancers could one day help doctors screen for the disease before patients show symptoms, researchers at the worlds largest gathering of oncologists have said.
The test, called a liquid biopsy, screens for cancer by detecting tiny bits of DNA released by cancer cells into blood. The test had particularly good results for ovarian and pancreatic cancers, though the number of cancers detected was small.
Researchers hope the test will become part of a universal screening tool that doctors can use to detect cancer in patients.
This is potentially the holy grail of cancer research, to find cancers that are currently hard to cure at an earlier stage when they are easier to cure, said Dr Eric Klein, lead author of the research from Cleveland Clinics Taussig Cancer Institute. We hope this test could save many lives.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/01/doctors-welcome-possible-holy-grail-of-cancer-research
This is big, giant news.
bucolic_frolic
(43,286 posts)I've read we all have cancer cells at various stages of our lives. Question is whether our immune system does its job or is not strong enough to kill the cancer cells.
nolabels
(13,133 posts)My guess with my background as mechanic forty years and trying to study the human body as well is that the better you take care of it the better it will be with you at the end.
Have you seen anything about the Keto diet? I have been using it to control and get rid of MRSA infections but they also say it helps a lot in cancer prevention and treatments as well
How the Ketogenic Diet Weakens Cancer Cells
By Dr. David Jockers DC, MS, CSCS
https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/ketogenic-diet-weakens-cancer-cells/
bucolic_frolic
(43,286 posts)Slow carbs and low carbs. I'm not getting on well with dairy. Thanks for the ideas!
apnu
(8,758 posts)Big Pharma does nothing for you, only for itself.
tazkcmo
(7,300 posts)sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)These tests will not be expensive.
The tests dont work well yet, but the govt (through NIH ) is investing a lot of money into blood tests for cancer.
These kind of liquid biopsies should be about a few hundred dollars. Way cheaper than a procedure to take tissue for a biopsy.
apnu
(8,758 posts)... the cost of the test to the patient when the test is in production. Academics will not be administering that screening, but the for-profit medical industry will. This same industry that charges $700 bucks for a bag of saltwater.
airplaneman
(1,240 posts)I knew somebody with ALS whose doctor wanted her to take the test that costs $17,000 to see if you have ALS (not covered by medicare by the way) - that person eventually died of ALS.
-Airplane
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)lame54
(35,321 posts)mcar
(42,372 posts)My mother died from ovarian CA nearly 30 years ago at age 62. No symptoms until it was too late. My sis and I both had our ovaries removed when we were done with them.
Stellar
(5,644 posts)that I had an aggressive form of uterine cancer, they took my uterus and my fallopian tubes, the works. The Doctors have been telling me that if you must get this disease, this is the one to get because in this day an age it is the one most curable of all the cancers. Although I'm going through chemotherapy, they tell me that I'm disease free. The chemo is to be sure that they can get the cells that can't be seen.
btw: there was no cancer in my family, so I didn't know to keep up with this.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Glad to hear youre doing well. Stay strong and enjoy every good day youve got! As we all should... carpe diem.
Moostache
(9,897 posts)There is an enormous gulf opening between the rich and well-cared for and the poor and neglected.
At one time, this was mainly limited to access...access to homes, schools, entertainment venues, etc....but now it is becoming far more insidious and it is access to food, nutrition, health care and increasingly life span.
The rich are living longer and the poor are paying for it with shorter, less privileged lives of want and sacrifice that the rich avert from their view and pretend is not happening.
Do we, as Americans, as a nation, believe that technology and science and medicinal breakthroughs are for everyone? or only for the very few? Those who can pay for such things as cancer screening, testosterone boosting, telomere testing and therapy? If we start saving millions of lives and age the population to appease the Baby Boomers (as WILL happen), what impact does this have on the nation in the 20-40 years AFTER the last of them die off?
No one is discussing the crisis levels of available nursing staff and facilities....
No one is discussing the costs of having several million advanced age citizens survive longer than history shows is 'normal'...
No one is discussing how this gets paid for in a nation obsessed with giving money back to the richest and forcing the middle class and poor to bear the brunt of the costs that benefited the rich disproportionally to begin with...
We are not ready for what is already starting....the retirements of the Boomers en masse. We are not discussing or facing the cost of what is building...the aging and dying of those same Boomers. This is a situation that has ran through American society since the Baby Boom first started...they have changed society at every stage of life and are continuing to do so now, only with a GOP-led government that is all too willing to deal in make-believe and all too reticent to face cold, hard facts...
Something's got to break this stalemate of inaction in the face of extinction-level consequences...we cannot address the problems we refuse to even acknowledge, especially when they are building right in front of our faces and no one is sitting up to take proper notice...
I do not have the answers, and I am relatively certain no one else does either...but if we do not start really discussing this and get real with the consequences of continued inaction, then the results are certain to be utterly horrifying in the end...
YOHABLO
(7,358 posts)I talk to many who are of 'means' and this is what I hear. They're indignant about Medicare and Medicaid ... everybody is on their own. If they cannot afford good health insurance, then it's their fault.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Most Democrats I know, rich and poor, believe we should have good healthcare for all even if they need to pay for it.
(GOP has brainwashed upper middle class white people into thinking they can pay low taxes, destroy the social safety net and healthcare, and come out ahead. Its a big con.)
The Democrats I know care about other people- thats why they are Democrats
AllyCat
(16,222 posts)The second thing I thought of is how insurance companies will use this to screw people.
We need national healthcare NOW.
Intestinal cancer is big in my family.
My next thought was: how can this be exploited by insurance companies and employers, in pre-employment exams.
Europe works fine without parasitic insurance companies.
Duppers
(28,127 posts)Yeah, let me go kill myself right now!
Reminder: not all of us boomers are rethugians - we make up a big chunk of DU.
Yes, we need Medicare for EVERYONE, like yesterday!
locks
(2,012 posts)The wealthiest country in the history of the world can provide everyone guns and bombs but can't afford research and health care for them.
area51
(11,920 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,417 posts)Thanks for the thread Calista
Beaverhausen
(24,472 posts)Fuck cancer