Cancer screening with blood test

Cancer affects everyone. Either you’ve battled it personally, know someone who has or have lost a loved one to the disease.

Last year alone, almost two million people were told they have cancer. Almost 610,000 people died from it.

What’s being considered the “holy grail” of cancer screening could diagnose some cancers earlier than ever before.

Mammograms, colonoscopies, pap smears and CT scans: Millions of people are screened for cancer each year, but still, 70% of cancers don’t have screening tests until now.

“It’s a novel technology that enables one to potentially screen an individual’s blood for up to 50 different types of cancer,” said Elizabeth O’Donnell, MD from Dana-Farber.

The Grail Galleri test is one of the first blood tests that look for fragments of DNA circulating in the bloodstream and scans for markers that might have come from a tumor cell.

“It uses your blood to look for signatures that may be indicative of a cancer,” O’Donnell said.

Oncologist O’Donnell can see if cancer signals are present by using two test tubes of a patient’s blood.

A positive test means a signal associated with cancer has been found, but it does not mean you have cancer, and patients should be further evaluated.

“The intent of all of these liquid biopsies is really to try and find these earlier stages, so stage 1 and stage 2 cancers,” O’Donnell said.

This catches cancers early, so treatment can start sooner, and more lives can be saved.

The multi-cancer early detection test by Grail is the first lab-approved test of its kind.

It’s meant for people over 50 and not recommended for those under 21.

The test isn’t FDA-approved yet and isn’t covered by insurance. You need a prescription to get it, and it costs around a $1,000.