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Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

theguardian.com

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Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#11

Post by sbelskie »

reacharavindh wrote: post #3

This is one of those medical revolutions that I am waiting dearly for. Facilities that are not hospitals(to avoid the risk of occupying medical devices that sick people need) built to _regulary_ check up otherwise healthy people for preventive care. Heck, I have so many alerts defined on my monitoring setup for servers to watch for signals of failure before they get too big. But, my own body is not observed until som…

A big part of this is the fact that learning information (about a disease or condition) early is often NOT the same thing as learning information that will change a patient’s clinical outcome.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#13

Post by hunter-2 »

I hope this test becomes mainstream in the next few years. One of those things that the world desperately needs.

There is another company in India, Tzar Labs, that has been working on a similar test and is almost ready to launch as well.

https://epaper.livemint.com/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=75ef980c...

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#14

Post by sbelskie »

> The test, which is also being piloted by NHS England in the autumn, is aimed at people at higher risk of the disease including patients aged 50 or older.

Does anyone know if the study was performed with a population that matches this description? Curious if the rates are in a general population or this higher risk group.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#15

Post by Gatsky »

reacharavindh wrote: post #3

This is one of those medical revolutions that I am waiting dearly for. Facilities that are not hospitals(to avoid the risk of occupying medical devices that sick people need) built to _regulary_ check up otherwise healthy people for preventive care. Heck, I have so many alerts defined on my monitoring setup for servers to watch for signals of failure before they get too big. But, my own body is not observed until som…

Note this test is about early detection, not prevention. If your pancreatic cancer is detected early, you will still need to have your insides rearranged to get it out.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#16

Post by radu_floricica »

sbelskie wrote: post #11
reacharavindh wrote: post #3

This is one of those medical revolutions that I am waiting dearly for. Facilities that are not hospitals(to avoid the risk of occupying medical devices that sick people need) built to _regulary_ check up otherwise healthy people for preventive care. Heck, I have so many alerts defined on my monitoring setup for servers to watch for signals of failure before they get too big. But, my own body is not observed until som…

A big part of this is the fact that learning information (about a disease or condition) early is often NOT the same thing as learning information that will change a patient’s clinical outcome.

I never understood this. I mean I totally get the concept, but I don't get how it came to influence policy. Put it like this: how many people are you willing to kill to make sure people don't find out they're sick? Because that's what it boils down to. And it sounds... sociopathic.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#17

Post by konschubert »

If you’re tested positive, what’s the probably that you actually have cancer?

(The article states 0.5% false positive rate and about 50% true positive rate, but I would need to know the the prevalence of cancer in the population to compute what I am asking for).

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#18

Post by pelorat »

Clampower wrote: post #10
zrail wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's already a thing, at least everywhere I've ever lived. You have a primary care doctor, you see them at least once a year, they do a physical exam, maybe some blood work. This test maybe becomes standard of care for everyone annually.

This is not true in the Netherlands. You don’t get any tests if there is nothing wrong. Healthcare in this country scares me.

You can ask for a blood test though and ask that they check specific markers. But I agree that huisartsen are too dismissive in general.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#19

Post by the-dude »

Clampower wrote: post #10
zrail wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's already a thing, at least everywhere I've ever lived. You have a primary care doctor, you see them at least once a year, they do a physical exam, maybe some blood work. This test maybe becomes standard of care for everyone annually.

This is not true in the Netherlands. You don’t get any tests if there is nothing wrong. Healthcare in this country scares me.

Take control. Regular doctors in NL are basically there to prevent you from getting care.

Say you want a blood test, and what for. I they don't cooperate, move to the next doctor.

Re: Blood test that finds 50 types of cancer is accurate enough to be rolled out

#20

Post by junon »

Gatsky wrote: post #15
reacharavindh wrote: post #3

This is one of those medical revolutions that I am waiting dearly for. Facilities that are not hospitals(to avoid the risk of occupying medical devices that sick people need) built to _regulary_ check up otherwise healthy people for preventive care. Heck, I have so many alerts defined on my monitoring setup for servers to watch for signals of failure before they get too big. But, my own body is not observed until som…

Note this test is about early detection, not prevention. If your pancreatic cancer is detected early, you will still need to have your insides rearranged to get it out.

"Preventative care" refers to the field of medicine called preventative medicine/care/health, which specifically aims at making regular checkups and other monitoring facilities free and accessible in order to improve health via early-detection.

Oftentimes, doing these sorts of things lowers your insurance premiums or makes costs lower if something does happen (not always, but sometimes). These sorts of things are also generally free as it costs the insurance company less in the long run if you're doing them frequently enough.

Perhaps a bit of a misnomer, but "preventative care" doesn't necessarily mean medicinal prevention of any sort.

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