Not science fiction, it is real and coming to a pharmacy in Europe in a few months.
BRUSSELS – The fight against breast cancer is taking one giant leap forward with a simple ‘do it yourself’ blood test, capable of detecting breast cancer with stunning accuracy.
Only 7 minutes after blood has been drawn, a woman will know with 91 percent accuracy whether or not she has breast cancer.
The test was developed by Belgian medical scientist Kurt Baeten and could well make today’s mammogram exams obsolete.
There is one major drawback to the use of blood tests to diagnose breast cancer and that is the cost associated with the new technique. Mammograms are thus far about six times cheaper than the newly developed blood test method.
A simply do it yourself at home blood test could detect breast cancer with 91 percent accuracy.
An average mammogram tests costs insurance companies around $84 while the blood test would run about $504. However, considering the long term benefits of the blood test combined with more women opting to use the blood test versus a mammogram, medical labs are convinced the price will eventually drop down.
Those who are pro the blood test state however that the cost is justified based on facts that the test is risk-free, extremely accurate, fast, reliable, efficient and user friendly.
Baeten and his partner Grooters are starting up the company Mediaspec, with the hopes of bringing the test to the general market as quickly as possible.
“It’s a matter of lives!” said Grooters. The researchers are hoping to have the ‘do it yourself’ test available in stores come February 2012. Belgium and the Netherlands will be the first countries to offer the test to women.
Despite breast cancer having become one of the most curable cancers, especially when the tumor(s) are being discovered early on, it is still one of the top death sentences for women
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