According to sources a new blood test developed by US researchers has shown promise for detecting pancreatic cancer in less than an hour. Meanwhile the test, which is at the proof-of-concept stage, can rapidly screen a drop of blood for biomarkers of pancreatic cancer and provide results in less than an hour.
Meanwhile the lead author Jean Lewis, Assistant Project Scientist at UC San Diego said the test uses an electronic chip-based system to extract nano-sized biological structures called exosomes directly from blood in minutes. Moreover the physicians need to just apply a drop of blood on a small electronic chip, then turn the current on, wait for several minutes and add fluorescent labels and finally look at the results under a microscope.
The researchers said, in a paper published in the
journal ACS Nano if a blood sample tests positive for pancreatic cancer, bright
fluorescent circles will appear. Rebekah
White, surgical oncologist said "This test could be used as a primary
screening strategy to identify patients who would subsequently need to undergo
more expensive and invasive diagnostic methods like a CT scan, MRI or endoscopy”.
