NON-INVASIVE CANCER BIOPSY

This treatment enables non-invasive biopsy for brain tumors

Rather than using a risky surgical procedure, researchers devised a new method that uses an Ultrasound coupled with a blood test

It is heartening to see so many promising breakthroughs taking place in finding an effective treatment for various forms of deadly cancer that currently plagues humanity. And this is perhaps one of the issues that I have written most about when it comes to healthcare. Most recently, I talked about a Preventative Breast Cancer vaccine, which is headed to human trials after a tireless endeavor of about 12 years. Similarly, another promising cancer vaccine headed for human trials, late last year.

To add to these accomplishments, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have now developed a novel method that can enable them to perform a non-invasive biopsy. This marks a vast improvement on the traditional technique used in aggressive brain tumors called Glioblastomas — involving a risky and invasive surgical biopsy.

Dubbed as ‘sonobiopsy’, the new method makes use of an ultrasound helped along with a blood test. In the animal trials conducted, researchers found significantly improved detection and diagnostic…