Researchers from Hasselt University and from the East Limburg Hospital have developed a new method to detect lung cancer via a simple blood sample. Although the actual application of the method may still be a while off, the first results are very promising.
Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in Belgium. Smoking cessation is an effective way to avoid it, but early detection is another way to substantially increase the chances of survival.
Currently, lung cancer diagnoses are made via computed tomography scans. In practice however, the CT scans thus obtained remain inconclusive in certain cases as to the detection of lung cancer.
For this new method, a simple blood sample is sufficient to differentiate between lung cancer patients and persons who are not affected by lung cancer. Once this quick and cheap new method will be further developed it will provide a more reliable selection of people at risk for the CT screening. In the meantime, the current results still have to be validated.
