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Clinical Takeaway
: About 1% of participants had positive tests, and about half of those had cancer — but the harm–benefit balance with this test still is far from clear.Context
Researchers in the U.K. recently reported results from a large randomized trial of a multicancer screening blood test, which is currently under review by the U.S. FDA. Here, in an industry-sponsored, observational study of the same test in the U.S., 35,000 participants (median age, 64) underwent screening during year 1. Standardized protocols, guided by a positive test’s predicted cancer signal origin, were used for diagnostic testing.
Key Results
0.9% of participants had positive tests; 60% of those with positive tests subsequently received diagnoses of cancer.
Among participants with positive tests, most underwent invasive testing (73%) — usually biopsy or endoscopy — and about half underwent whole-body imaging (magnetic resonance ima…