October is designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Scientists are in the process of developing a simple blood test to provide a more accurate breast cancer diagnosis and treatment than the traditional method of using mammograms.
Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among U.S. women. Nearly 226,870 women are affected with invasive breast cancer and about 39,510 die from breast cancer every year.
Previous studies have identified a lot of factors like having a large breast size, working night shifts, undergoing fertility treatments at a young age and giving birth to large babies escalating the risks of developing breast cancer.
However, breast cancer is usually diagnosed during the stage 2 when patients start getting symptoms like pain and fatigue.
"This exciting research means we could one day have a blood test that detects the very early signs of cancer meaning women could have an annual blood test rather than breast screening. This would remove any worry and anxiety for women who are called for further investigations after a mammogram only to find they don't have cancer," Dr. Jacqui Shaw, principal investigator from the University of Leicester, said in a news release.
For finding out the accuracy of the blood test, researchers will collect blood samples from women who visit UK's largest breast screening clinic in London. DNA from breast cancer patients will be compared with those who do not have the condition and the DNA markers will be noted down and will be used to develop the blood test.
According to the researchers, the test will also enable to monitor breast cancer patients after performing surgery.
"As things stand we aren't able to monitor breast cancer patients after they've had surgery and treatment - which is like treating diabetes but not measuring blood sugar levels. The new blood test could change that," Shaw explained.
Efforts have been going on from a long time to provide an accurate diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Recently, researchers from the Kansas State University developed a blood test that can give accurate details of the early stages of breast cancer and lung cancer, within an hour.
