Blood Test To Quickly Diagnose Skin Cancer

Highlights

• The blood test, also called liquid biopsy diagnoses skin cancer more efficiently than other methods.
• The test is said to be a revolutionary one as it identifies melanoma which could only be detected by surgery, previously.

Once the skin cancer has been identified via the new test, oncologists can quickly tailor the most appropriate treatment for each individual patient, potentially preventing the cancer from spreading to the bloodstream.

Australian researchers have developed the revolutionary blood test to diagnose skin cancer much more quickly and efficiently than conventional methods.

This new blood test is called a liquid biopsy, because it can often replace the need for a much slower, and often invasive, surgical biopsy. From a blood sample, researchers can identify whether a melanoma patient will respond to a specific treatment, and also learn when a treatment stops working and new treatment options need to be explored.

The test will be made available at Melbourne's Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI), Victoria state's Health Minister Jill Hennessy.

Prior to the development of the new test, melanomas could only be identified by a complex and invasive surgery, results from which could take weeks to be obtained.

"We're putting cancer patients first and investing in world-leading cancer research and future technologies that have the power to save lives," Hennessy told reporters in Melbourne.

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Source-Medindia