The NHS is to trial a simple blood test that may help identify more than 50 forms of cancer years before diagnosis, in what it hailed as a potential “gamechanger”. If successful the blood test, known as Galleri, could revolutionize early diagnosis of cancer and save many lives by identifying symptoms quickly enough for prompt treatment to make the difference between life and death.
The blood test will be offered to 165,000 people in England from mid-2021, the vast majority of whom have no signs of the disease. NHS England hopes the test may prove particularly useful at detecting early signs of cancers that are hard to spot and so have worse survival rates, such as ovarian and pancreatic cancer.
Sir Simon Stevens, NHS England’s chief executive, said: “Early detection, particularly for hard to treat conditions like ovarian and pancreatic cancer, has the potential to save many lives. This promising blood test could therefore be a gamechanger in cancer care, helping thousands more people to get successful treatment.” If the trial finds that the blood test can detect cancers early it will become routinely available later this decade. The 165,000 people who will be offered the test will be […]
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