GRAIL Galleri cancer screening

[keefer]

Received an invite two weeks ago to participate in the NHS-Galleri trial;  a new blood test which in theory can find signs of up to 50 different cancer types in the blood; developed in the US (Menlo Park && Raleigh Durham) - they are trying to get 140k volunteers in the UK to participate, giving two vials of blood once a year for three years....   A simple blood test to spot the earliest signs of cancer - long before health deteriorates or other diagnostics spot it ?   I was impressed, signed up and gave blood Friday... 

Anyone else participating or thinking about it ?

https://grail.com/

https://www.nhs-galleri.org/about-the-trial

 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2022 by keefer

[+ FreshFluff]

I looked into this and was not overly impressed. The idea is that their false posirive  rate is low, but the downside is, of course, a relatively low sensitivity  (true positive rate) for stage 1 cancers. 

From their  press release, https://grail.com/press-releases/grail-announces-positive-new-data-with-multi-cancer-early-detection-blood-test-from-ccga-study/

“Detection rates (sensitivity) for the 12 deadly cancer types ranged from 59 to 86 percent at early stages (stages I-III). A combined analysis of this group of cancers showed robust detection at early stages (34 percent, 77 percent, and 84 percent at stages I, II, and III, respectively). In addition, a tissue of origin result was provided for 94 percent of all cancers detected and, of these, the test correctly identified the tissue of origin in 90 percent of cases.

The 12 pre-specified cancer types included anorectal, colorectal, esophageal, gastric, head and neck, hormone receptor negative breast, liver, lung, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers, as well as multiple myeloma and lymphoid neoplasms. Together, these cancer types account for approximately 63 percent of all cancer deaths in the United States.”

First of all, is stage 3 considered “early stage?” And how do they work up the positive results? With a full body PET scan or what? Also, I\they’re not breaking down the sensitivity rates by stage for each type of cancer. If the test’s sensitivities for, say, ovarian and breast are far higher than the rest, then—assuming you’re male—you’re wasting your time.  

From my lay perspective, it might or might not be worth signing up for the trial based on the current data they’ve submitted. After the results come back, you might need a lot of patience and tolerance for “we have no clue what’s going on”-type responses. 

Edited July 10, 2022 by FreshFluff

[Luv2play]

On the other hand, how strenuous is it to give one sample of blood per year for three years?