A research team in Denmark examined 20-year-old blood samples in people who later developed breast cancer -- and they came to some surprising conclusions.
A new blood test could help predict if a woman will get breast cancer years before the disease even exists.
The technique, which is still in the early stages of development, would involved measuring compounds that are in the blood, and could prove helpful in allowing doctors to tell women who are at risk, and how they can lower their odds of getting breast cancer, according to a WebMD report.
A research team at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark have reportedly found a way to determine with 80 percent accuracy is a woman will get breast cancer two to five years before it actually happens. Mammograms by comparison can spot the actual disease with 75 percent accuracy. The findings were published in the journal Metabolomics.
Professor Rasmus Bro, one of the researchers, was quoted in the report as saying that the method is superior to mammography, which can only detect the disease when it is already in existence, compared with the blood test, which can spot it before it materializes.
The study was based on 57,053 men and women who were tracked by the Danish Cancer Society for about 20 years. The team used blood samples from two decades ago and other data from more than 400 women who had been diagnosed with breast cancer two to seven years later and compared them with those who didn’t get the disease.
They were then able to create a profile for each breast cancer sufferer, and found chemical changes that happen before a tumor shows up.
It will take more trials to confirm its effectiveness, but the early returns are very promising, said one researcher.
Women who are concerned about being at risk for breast cancer should talk to their doctor. Extra screening, including mammography, is still the best tool doctors have at their disposal to fight breast cancer.
