Liquid Biopsies Is The Cheaper, Less Invasive Alternative To Diagnosing Cancer

New blood test studies are being done to detect and analyze cancer tumors, showing that "liquid biopsies" are reliable alternatives to conventional biopsies -- a good news for patients as it offers a potentially cheaper and less invasive way of monitoring malignancies.

According to The New York Times, researchers took advantage of the fact that DNA fragments from tumors can also be found in tiny amounts in the blood of cancer patients.

The study involved genetic information from over 15,000 patients and 50 tumor types, with the study comparing samples from liquid biopsies and traditional biopsies. In most of the cases, the genetic changes detected by the blood tests had similar results identified in the tissues.

The study was presented in the American Society of Clinical Oncology by Philip C. Mack, the director of molecular pharmacology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center. He said that the study shows the veracity of liquid biopsy in approaching cancer and that it can be a "highly informative, minimally invasive alternative."

The Washington Post noted that liquid biopsies are a hot field in several companies, many of them already working on development possibilities. Some of these tests are designed to pick up pieces of DNA in the bloodstream, which were shed by the cancerous tumors. The information gathered can then be used to treat and monitor the disease.

Still, Mack and other physicians agree that traditional biopsies will still remain as the "gold standard" in treating cancers. This is because they provide more information about the tumors, including their characteristics and possible development. Trained pathologists can also determine the kind of tumor present based on the cells in a tissue sample, and whether or not an extracted tissue actually originated someplace else.

Still, the fact that liquid biopses will be cheaper and will be done at a less effort means that it is still a big step in cancer treatment. The chief of hematology and medical oncology at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, David Nanus said about the study, "To be able to draw that information from a blood test is a huge step forward."