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Doc Talk: Liquid biopsy a promising breakthrough for cancer screening
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Liquid biopsy detects cancer cells in the body by picking up the presence of cancer DNA in the blood.
PHOTO: PIXABAY
Wong Seng Weng
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SINGAPORE – Liquid biopsy, a non-invasive blood test capable of detecting multiple deadly cancers at the early and curable stage, might be the real deal for cancer screening.
In the 1960s, scientists believed that they had discovered the holy grail of the screening of colorectal cancer (cancer of the large bowel). They discovered a cancer marker in the blood, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), that was purported to have a 100 per cent accuracy in the early detection of colorectal cancer.
