'I'm excited about a future where non-invasive blood tests could become the norm in guiding cancer treatment decisions'

RESEARCHERS CLAIM BLOOD TESTS COULD TRACK BREAST CANCER CHANGES AND AVOID BIOPSIES

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A SIMPLE blood test could match women with breast cancer to the right treatment without the need for a biopsy, as well as allowing medics to track the disease as it evolves, according to researchers.

There are numerous types of breast cancer, each one requiring specific treatment. However, around one in five advanced tumours can switch type, which causes treatment to stop working.

Known as Breast Circulating Methylation Assay (BCMA), the new blood test looks for tumour DNA released into the bloodstream by cancer cells.

The technology is not limited to breast cancer and could be applied across many types of the disease, experts suggest.

A study by researchers at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, analysed 191 blood samples from 86 patients with breast cancer. They compared the results to two tissue samples taken on average more than five years apart.

Breast cancer switched type in 19 per cent of the samples, and the BCMA test was almost 90 per cent accurate in pinpointing this change.