In a newly launched study, radiologists and oncologists with Intermountain Healthcare aim to discover whether screening patients for tumor DNA in their blood can successfully identify breast cancer. Researchers believe the study could produce a test that detects cancer sooner in some patients, improving both how the disease is diagnosed and resulting health outcomes.
“We want to find these tumors before they become a problem,” Brett Parkinson, medical director of the Intermountain Medical Center Breast Care Center, said Monday in announcing the study.
Identifying genetic markers for breast cancer through a blood sample could help diagnose cancer in instances where a tumor is not visible through a mammogram, Parkinson said, or where a patient is hesitant to undergo the x-ray screenings.