The Canadian province of Saskatchewan has licensed the use of a diagnostic blood test developed by Saskatoon-based Phenomenome Discoveries for diagnosis of colon cancer, reports the Regina Leader-Post.
The test measures the level of a certain metabolite in the blood – which is lower in people with colorectal cancer.
A recent two-year trial included 5,000 participants who were going in for colonoscopies and agreed to provide a blood sample. Of the 105 diagnosed with cancer, 87 percent of them were deficient in the metabolite.
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer and the deadliest. However, if it’s caught early, it can be successfully treated in 90 percent of cases.
Phenomenome Discoveries CEO Dayan Goodenowe described the process: "It means, first of all, the metabolite goes down before you get cancer, so at the simplest degree [the blood test] allows us to identify those individuals who are at highest risk of cancer, so we can get them in and detect cancer before it gets to a stage that becomes untreatable.”
While the non-invasive blood test is a good way to discover those at high risk, Goodenowe emphasized that it does not replace the colonoscopy.
“A colonoscopy will still be the standard of care and will still be the definitive diagnostic,” said Goodenowe. “You have to physically see the cancer.”