Dana-Farber’s Deborah Schrag, MD, MPH, is leading the Pathfinder Study, a study that looks at a simple blood test and evaluates it to see if it could detect multiple cancer types at the earliest and most treatable stages.
a research team at Dana Farber Cancer Institute has opened an exciting new clinical trial. The Pathfinder study. The goal of this study is to evaluate a simple blood test that could potentially detect multiple kinds of cancer at their earliest and most treatable stages and the blood test screens for many different types of cancer, all at the same time. At Dana Farber, this study is being led by Dr Deb Schrag. Participants fill out a questionnaire and then take a blood test. The blood test, developed by Grail, can detect multiple types of cancer with a high degree of accuracy. Many of the cancers the test can spot are not currently screened for and are often diagnosed at advanced stages. The result is essentially signal detected that might mean cancer or no signal detected if the signal is detected. The report also provides suggestions and hints based on the type of DNA that is detected in the blood about what the tissue of origin might be. Based On earlier studies, researchers found that 98% of people will receive a negative test, with the remaining participants having a signal detected. Of these positive tests, there's a less than 1% chance of a false positive for the 1 to 2% of people who have a signal detected. It's anxiety provoking, and that's really, um, the main risk of the study. Participants must be adults older than 50 with either no cancer history or survivors of cancer who have been cancer free for at least three years. Those interested an eligible to participate in the study are welcome. Thio email. Pathfinder study at dfc i dot harvard dot e. D u to enroll in the study or to find out more information, this test is evaluating whether or not we can screen for multiple types of cancer all at once using a blood test. And that obviously has the potential to be very convenient and very powerful. If we're detecting cancers early and that leads to more cure, that's what we want. That's what we hope
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