- Imperial College London is organizing trials of blood tests to detect brain cancer
A simple blood test could help diagnose patients with the deadliest form of brain cancer, researchers have found.
Studies from the Brain Tumor Research Center of Excellence, part of Imperial College London, showed they could identify traces of the disease in standard blood samples.
Experts say it could speed diagnosis and treatment while reducing the need for invasive and risky surgeries to diagnose most brain tumors. They said the ‘liquid biopsy’ would be especially beneficial for patients with inaccessible brain tumors, meaning they could start treatment as soon as possible.
Antiques Roadshow presenter Theo Burrell, 37, who was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain tumor known as glioblastoma 20 months ago, said the test had the potential to be “life-changing” for patients.
Lead scientist Dr. Nelofer Syed helps develop a simple blood test that could help detect the deadliest of all brain cancers
Research from the Brain Tumor Research Center of Excellence, part of Imperial College London, found they could identify traces of the disease in standard blood samples (Image)
Experts say it could speed diagnosis and treatment while reducing the need for invasive and risky surgeries used to diagnose most brain tumors (Stock Image)
She visited her GP several times over the course of six months as she suffered from exhaustion and excruciating headaches that ‘painkillers couldn’t cope with’, but the diagnosis was only made after she went to A&E herself and had scans.
She is now a patron of Brain Tumor Research and told the Mail: ‘If a rapid blood test could detect brain tumors it would be life-changing for patients.
‘It would mean much faster diagnosis, which could be done in GP practices, rather than having to do scans and biopsies in hospitals, which is time-consuming and expensive for the NHS.’
Ms Burrell described it as ‘potentially a huge breakthrough’, adding: ‘But it’s also just the beginning. We still need more funding so we can improve treatment options and ultimately find a cure, because not much progress has been made in the last 40 years.”
The findings, published in the International Journal of Cancer, are particularly significant because less than 1 percent of patients with glioblastoma live longer than ten years – for many the prognosis is just twelve months.
Kevin O’Neill, consultant neurosurgeon at Imperial College Healthcare, said: ‘This test is not just a disease indicator, it is a true diagnostic liquid biopsy.
‘It detects intact circulating tumor cells… which can be analyzed to the same cellular detail as a real tissue sample.
‘It is a real breakthrough for the treatment of brain cancers that rarely spread throughout the body.’