Revolutionary blood test will detect stage 1 lung cancer

Of all cancers, lung cancer is the deadliest, largely because it is so difficult to diagnose early on. With very few nerve endings in the lungs, this type of cancer doesn’t cause painful symptoms until a tumor has grown quite large – and by that time, it’s often too late. “If the cancer is detected at stage 1, the survival rate is 80 percent,” explains Giora Davidovits, CEO of Israeli startup Savicell, which is developing a new blood test to diagnose lung cancer.

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Davidovits explains that most lung cancers found early are usually the result of a patient undergoing radiological imaging for an entirely different issue. “If the cancer is not detected until stage 2, the survival rate drops to 13-14%,” he adds.“By stage 4, it’s down to just 4 percent.” When a physician suspects lung cancer, a CT scan is done. If a lump (nodule) is found, a biopsy is the only way to really know what’s going on. However, since 95% of nodules are benign, and since the biopsy is a risky, highly invasive procedure, doctors prefer to wait and see if the CT finds changes over time. If it does – and it is cancer – the final diagnosis can be at a tragically late stage. Savicell’s alternative, a simple blood test that can detect lung cancer, is part of a fast-growing specialization known as “liquid biopsy” – a market worth some $1.2 billion in 2018, according to Zion Market Research.-- More...

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