A SIMPLE blood test can predict whether breast cancer will return nearly a year before scans can spot the disease.
The check, known as a liquid biopsy, measures levels of tumour DNA in the blood.
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In a trial, it accurately detected the return of the disease 10.7 months before symptoms emerged or tumours were picked up in scans.
Researchers say the early warning promises to save lives by letting doctors begin treatment sooner or even prevent the cancer returning at all. Dr Simon Vincent, from Breast Cancer Now, which funded the trial, said: “It could be a really significant breakthrough.
“The potential of this test to spot the signs of breast cancer returning or spreading much earlier in NHS clinics is extremely exciting.”
The trial involved 144 British patients. Their cancer DNA was analysed so researchers could look for it in blood samples. After three years, 29 women saw their disease return, and the test picked it up early in 23 cases.
Study chief Professor Nicholas Turner, of The Institute of Cancer Research in London, said: “These new blood tests can work out which patients are at risk of relapse much more accurately than we have done before, identifying the earliest signs almost a year before the patient will clinically relapse.
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“We hope that by identifying it much earlier we will be able to treat it much more effectively than we can do now, perhaps even prevent some from relapsing.”
His team is now planning to carry out larger trials.
Breast cancer affects about 55,000 Britons a year, with nearly 12,000 dying.
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