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Blood test may replace biopsy in advanced lung cancer

September 30, 2019

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Data from the Blood First Assay Screening Trial (BFAST) presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2019 has shown that the test can identify DNA mutations in NSCLC patients by picking up tiny pieces of tumour DNA shed by cancer cells into the blood. This information can be used to assess patient suitability for targeted medicines.

In the BFAST analysis, over 2,200 patients with untreated NSCLC had blood tests to check for multimer genetic mutations. Overall, 119 of them were found to have tumour DNA showing a rearrangement of the ALK gene.

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