Device Could Detect Dozens of Cancers

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Greg Bernhardt
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This Device Could Detect Dozens of Cancers With a Single Blood Test

Early detection, we’re often told, is the surest way to beat cancer. It’s the reason why, year after year, men and women of a certain age dutifully visit their doctors and undergo uncomfortable tests to screen for things like prostate and breast cancer.

But what about the other hundred or so types of cancer out there—the brain cancers, the ovarian cancers, the leukemias and lymphomas? And what of the millions of young people who never get tested at all, even though they’ve been found to have worse outcomes than adults?

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/miroculus/

I've had too many friends and family suddenly find they have cancer. It seems that when you have symptoms it's often too late. Early detection is key, but for the vast vast majority of people this is very difficult. You can't exactly look in your body and see a tumor on your liver. I think the age of cheap body scans and blood work should be here.
 
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Looks like minaturized PCR. The devil is in the details--such as picking proper control miRNAs in order to avoid false positives or negatives if this instrument is using quantitative results to establish cancer diagnoses. Running a sample is probably easy, but interpreting the results is what trips you up. I've done PCR on miRNAs, and picking proper controls is insanely difficult.