tamination found in the country contributes to an abnormal prevalence of cancer . To illustrate the point , one ought to consider the fact that of all annual cancer deaths that occur worldwide , some twenty-seven percent of them are Chinese , or that one out of every sixty men in south China have a chance to contract nasopharyngeal carcinoma , which is a viral cancer that starts in the upper part of the throat .
This specific procedure is called skin punch biopsy . The subpar conditions of cancer treatment paired with its abnormal prevalence in China pushed Doctor Dennis Lo to tackle the challenge of finding a superior cancer detection and treatment-identification method : liquid biopsy . Liquid biopsies only require a few drops of blood in order to work . The procedure only requires blood droplets because it takes advantage of the fact that cancerous tumors shed their DNA into the bloodstream . The shed DNA , known as circulating tumor DNA , is located within the patient ’ s blood and then genetically sequenced , which allows doctors to obtain the same information that a tissue biopsy would normally give at a fraction of the cost and pain . What makes liquid biopsy particularly remarkable and indeed revolutionary is that they allow clinicians to take serial samples without hassle , thus allowing cancer tumors and all their metastases ( which are the development of secondary growths at a distance from a primary site of cancer ) to be observed in real time , which leads to more
effective treatment . Dr . Lo has been conducting a study in China to prove the reliability of the procedure . His study involves 20,000 healthy middle-aged men . Out of the first one thousand screened , Dr . Lo ’ s team detected that 17 had forms of cancer , and 13 were at stage I , the earliest form possible . Nearly all the men have beaten the cancer with radiation treatment thanks to early detection of the cancers . Compared with the survival rates of those that only seek medical attention once symptoms become noticeable , such as having masses on the neck , which are only seventy percent , the results show great improvement . The cancer involved in the study was nasopharyngeal carcinoma . Evidently , liquid biopsy can be successfully used to detect viral cancers earlier than ever before . The final challenge that remains with this life-saving technology is developing affordable and effective DNA sequencers that will be able to detect all cancers , not just the viral variety . This will allow the technology to be far more widely-used and , of course , save a countless number of lives . Dr . Lo is not alone in the development of this revolutionary technology . Teams all over the globe , including a team from John Hopkins University , are locked in a race to turn the idea into a mainstream technology . Dr . Lo himself believes he and his team are on the brink of success , so now it is only a matter of time before cancer detection and treatment undergo beneficial revolution .
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