Duke University Medical Center Study Points to Possibility of Blood Test to Detect Lung Cancer

DURHAM, N.C. -- A test for four blood proteins may provide a less-invasive follow-up for patients who have suspicious lesions on chest radiographs or computerized tomography (CT) scans, according to a new study led by Duke University Medical Center researchers. "CT scans have a very high false positive rate when trying to discover lung cancer," said Edward Patz, Jr., M.D., a radiologist at Duke and lead investigator on the study. "What that leads to is several follow-up imaging studies or invasive procedures like biopsy, which have risks of their own. This study is the first step in developing a test that would allow us to sample a patient's blood and determine whether more invasive testing and treatment are necessary."

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