New, more accurate than mammogram, blood test for breast cancer

[LaurieFairyCake]

Article in womens health - 96% accuracy - 89% for stage 1 breast cancer (the ones that mammograms barely pick up)

I am 100% doing this (apparently being offered by 'the London clinic') rather than squashing my boobs into a mammogram machine.

I've been avoiding going as I HATE my breasts being touched

This is very good news. Hopefully it’s rolled out and available soon.

I must admit I hate mammograms, but one a few years ago did pick up a non cancerous lump. How much is The London Clinic charging.

Hallelujah! This is great news! Wondered if anyone was working on a blood test for breast cancer after I heard there was one for prostate cancer available. And here it is.

I'd love this

I've filled in the online form so they contact me and tell me the price

@Madamswearsalot if you’re talking about the PSA for prostate cancer, it’s not specific to prostate cancer and many things can influence it. If this is like that, I’d stick to the mammograms!

Can’t find anything about it online! Just some talk about a potential test back in 2019. If this was really a thing, it’d be all over the news, surely!

It's a huge article in the Daily Mail today

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11042803/Game-changer-blood-test-better-finding-early-breast-cancers-mammogram.html

Please share when you have it :)

The article headline says particularly among young people so maybe not suitable for older people

Excellent news…but what’s the cost?

The younger women thing is probably because their breasts are denser and so a mammogram is less effective whereas it works better for older people so cancer is more likely to be picked up rather than the blood test not being effective. There are private labs abroad that do circulating tumour cell tests for about £600. There are some cancers there are specific tests for, others it's more general and less accurate. They say that they are also able to predict which drugs or supplements are likely to be effective for different types of cancer, how accurate this is I don't know.

@LaurieFairyCake Which form? On the website of HCA? There is nothing on their website about offering the test.

I read the article and found it confusing. This is because one of the drs they quoted who offers it to his patients is an oncologist. So that's not screening he is doing, but treatment for existing disease.

I have had private mammograms for years as I've been told by breast specialists that the NHS every 3 years is not enough (and elsewhere in the world they do them annually.)

The blood test sounds a great idea BUT stressful waiting for the result.

With private mammos you get the result there and then when you have it.

I've filled in the form to be contacted by the London clinic for the blood test

I'd only be going as I'm the right age, not because I think I have cancer - so I wouldn't be worried about waiting for a result

I will definitely come back and tell people the cost when they've contacted me

I think it's possibly not in use yet, reading the article.

The dr mentioned (Crook) is an oncologist already treating women so that's confusing.

I've looked at the websites of the private hospitals in London who have specialist screening (breasts) and none mention it.

However, if it is , great and I'd go for it.

Come back if you find out!

It states in the article that it isn't available in the UK yet as still undergoing validation.
The study does look promising but at the moment mammograms are still the only option.

I hope they roll it out soon, I also loathe having a mammogram, I found it so painful and I ached for days afterwards.

Rather than believing everything written in a DM article where results might have been cherrypicked and can seem obscure, wording tweaked with other things missed out, it would be better to find the study mentioned and check if it’s been peer reviewed and if so what the results were plus any other detail of it.

This is great news and I hope it gets rolled out soon. There are so many problems with mammograms, including a high rate of false positives which lead to unnecessarily further investigations and treatment.

easyday - it says in the article that Dr Crook is offering in at the London clinic hospital (that's who I've contacted)

Not really, you can have breast cancer more than once.

It'll be good to hear what they say @LaurieFairyCake

My interpretation of the article, where they doctors all say' could' rather than 'is' perhaps shows it's not yet in use.

I think that Dr Crook is involved in the trials and has used it with patients he already sees, with a diagnosis, as part of the trial.

I spent a lot of time researching him yesterday and he is a medical oncologist. These are drs who see people already diagnosed, or having ongoing treatment, or being offered a place on a trial.

@LaurieFairyCake I will be REALLY keen to hear their reply.

I found this site- it's from the manufacturer of Trucheck.

trucheck360.com/for-breast.php

There is a FAQ section.

They say it's not meant to replace 'conventional screening' which throws some doubt on the claims in the Mail.

However, it also says on the FAQ section that they can put you in touch with a provider of the test.