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London, United Kingdom
The government of the United Kingdom is likely to introduce a new 'game-changing' blood test which will be able to detect signs of the 12 most common cancers before patients develop any symptoms.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who is himself a cancer survivor, will introduce the government-funded 'universal' blood screening for treating the disease in five years.
All about the innovative blood test
The treatment is a type of PCR test which is used during the pandemic and it can increase survival chances and save many lives every year.
The development comes after a blood test was hailed by the doctors in June in which they can predict if there are chances of breast cancer relapsing before it appears on the scans.
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Speaking to The Mirror, Streeting said, "Just a couple of drops of blood could tell you if you had lung, breast or bladder cancer, helping end months-long waits for tests and scans. These innovations could be game changers."
This test will cost each patient £120 (approx. $157) and will check the 12 most common cancers which are lung, breast, prostate, pancreatic, colorectal, ovarian, liver, brain, oesophageal, bladder, bone and soft tissue sarcoma, and gastric.
The scheme has been provided £2.5 million ($3.28 million) worth of funding by the UK government through the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
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A startup company Xgenera has been set up by the scientists to help the scheme in rolling out, which they claimed has "potential to save millions of lives".
Every year, more than 320,000 people are diagnosed with prostate, breast, bowel and lung cancers.
According to experts, nearly 40,000 cancers had gone undiagnosed in the first year of the pandemic.
As of now, screening programmes are among the most effective ways of detecting early-stage cancers.
(With inputs from agencies)