Novel Blood Test Used to Diagnosis Cancer

The test uses infrared light to detect infinitesimal changes in the blood of a person who has a malignant growth somewhere in the body, even before the disease has metastasized.

A team of scientists at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU; Be’er Sheva, Israel) developed a device that illuminates cancer cells with less than 5 mL blood. Various molecules are released into the bloodstream of patients with cancerous growths that cause the blood to absorb infrared light slightly differently compared to that of healthy people.

In the latest clinical trial with 200 patients and a control group, the test identified specific cancers in 90% of the patients and found other types of cancer, as well. The researchers are focused on detection of common cancers, such as lung and ovarian cancer. Doctors believe that it is critical to increase cancer detection in early stages to prevent the need for long, difficult, and costly treatments in more advanced stages.

Joseph Kapelushnik, MD, who is head of the Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology at Soroka hospital (Be’er Sheva, Israel) said, "This investigation is still in the early stages of clinical trials. But the purpose is to develop an efficient, cheap and simple method to detect as many types of cancers as possible. We want to be able to detect cancer while a patient is still feeling good, before it has a chance to metastasize, meaning fewer treatments, less suffering and many more lives saved." More clinical trials will be conducted in the next 18 months.

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Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Soroka Hospital