A team of scientists from the University of East Anglia (UK) have collaborated to create a new blood test that is more accurate in detecting prostate cancer than currently available methods.
The research, published in the scientific journal Cancershows that the blood test Prostate Screening EpiSwitch (PSE) is 94% accurate, according to the results of the study, in which 147 patients participated.
This accuracy exceeds the blood test currently used to detect prostate cancer, which is the prostate specific antigen (PSA). This new test, in fact, combines the traditional PSA test with an epigenetic EpiSwitch test.
According to the authors, currently There is no single test to detect cancer.r of prostate and the most common methods include the use of PSA, physical exams, MRIs, and biopsies.
Despite that, PSA tests are not routinely used to screen for the disease. due to the unreliability of the results. Only a quarter of men who have a prostate biopsy due to an elevated PSA level are diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Only a quarter of men who undergo a prostate biopsy are diagnosed with cancer.
the silent disease
According to the Spanish Association Against Cancer, cancer is the most important socio-sanitary problem in the world. One in two men and one in three women are expected to develop the disease at some point in their lives. In addition, the number of cases continues to increase, with a forecast of 341,000 new cases in Spain for the year 2040.
Within the tumors, Prostate cancer is the most frequent cancer in men in Spain. Every year more than 35,000 new cases are diagnosed, a rate higher than that of other types of cancer such as breast or lung. So these kinds of diagnostic advances could help prevent many future cases.