Blood tests could replace needle biopsies
Wednesday, November 15, 2017 @ 11:20 PM
A GALICIA hospital is trying out a new method of taking biopsies from patients using only a blood test.
The Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital in Vigo, Pontevedra province, has launched clinical trials to see whether the so-called 'liquid biopsy' method would be accurate enough to replace the traditional process.
If it is, this means patients would have their results within a maximum of two hours, rather than having to wait for a minimum of two days, as is the case with the current method.
Were a blood test to suffice, a biopsy on a suspect lump or cell cluster – a common way of testing for cancer – could be carried out at an outpatient's nurses' station, saving resources, since at present, biopsies are conducted by surgeons or interventional radiologists.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com