A blood test availability which can detect traces of cancer cells could spare patient’s from chemotherapy
Blood test availability: A major finding of treating cancer to examine if surgery has removed all the tumor.
According to doctors, more than 50 percent patients with stage 3 cancer are cured by surgery alone. They do not recommend of over-treating patients with chemotherapy.
As per UK research, about 1,600 bowel cancer patients are being recruited.
Hopefully, this specialised technology could spare many cancer patients from unnecessary chemotherapy.
“That’s good for the patient, it’s good for the health service, it’s good for cost savings within the NHS. That would be a win-win,” says Dr Starling.
The trial, called TRACC, is using a test created by US company Guardant Health. The samples are sent to their labs in California for analysis with the results coming back within around two weeks.
Survival outcomes
The trial, funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR), will examine any difference in survival rates after three years between those patients whose treatment was guided by the blood test compared with the standard-of-care chemotherapy group.
Trials are also under way in the UK to monitor patients with lung and breast cancer in the same way.
Dr Starling says the potential for this new technology across cancer care is “immense”, not just when it comes to detecting residual disease after surgery, but also for early diagnosis.
What is clear already, from multiple studies, is that so-called “liquid biopsy” blood tests can reveal the lingering presence of cancer long before it would be found using traditional methods.
A trial in Greece published in Nature in January, found that liquid biopsies could show cancer recurrence at least four years before it would be detectable via a scan. That study followed a small group of breast cancer patients after surgery.
At the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago last June, a study in 455 bowel cancer patients found that by using the blood tests to guide treatment, the number of patients needing post-surgery chemotherapy was nearly halved without the risk of relapse.
But Dr Starling says the far bigger randomised trial in the UK is essential to calibrate exactly how much reliance can be placed on liquid biopsies, especially when it means considering the withdrawal of chemotherapy.
Tests Availability
The tests have already been available to private patients.
Susanne Winter, an artist from Surrey, was diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer in March 2022. However, she had successful surgery to remove the tumour and some cancerous lymph nodes.
She initially thought she would need chemotherapy to ensure the cancer was entirely gone. However, she had the ctDNA test done privately which showed she was clear of cancer.
Notably, the tests results led her to follow her work commitments. She even had two works accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition.
She feels incredibly lucky to have avoided chemotherapy. “I knew how toxic it can be.”
The tests are considered as Holy Grail of cancer detection to spot and cure the disease at the earliest stage.
Blood tests are also being trialled to see if they can diagnose a whole range of cancers.
Around 140,000 volunteers aged 50-77 have been recruited across England. Further, they were examined with 50 types of tumours which have no screening programmes. The NHS-Galleri trial is made by Californian Company Grail, and some interim results are due early next year.
