scopingnot assessedhorizon Not stated by any source read for this entrycritical gap open
A blood test that screens people without symptoms for many cancer types at once, finds cancers early enough to change outcomes, and rarely raises a false alarm. This entry maps the research state of the technology; it is not medical advice.
Scope
In: blood-based tests for signals of several cancers at once (cell-free DNA methylation, fragmentomics, protein markers) used to screen people without symptoms. Out: tests for one cancer type, tests for people with symptoms or a known cancer, and treatment. Sequencing at scale is covered by biotech/low-cost-dna-sequencing.
Share of people with the condition whom the test detects. Higher is better.
Current (2021-01-01)16.8%
Target50%
Limit–
Conditions. Stage I cancers of all types detected, blood-based methylation test, case-control validation set.
Why this target. Atlas working target, not set by an agency or a regulator: the point at which a test finds more stage I cancers than it misses. No source read for this entry sets a numeric stage I threshold; the systematic review says population screening needs high specificity and reasonable sensitivity for early-stage disease.
Note. as_of is the publication year; the day is not in the abstract. Case-control data, not a screening population.
In the case-control validation study sensitivity rose with stage, from 16.8% at stage I to 90.1% at stage IV, so the test finds mostly cancers that are already advanced. Stage I is where early detection would matter most and where little tumour DNA reaches the blood.
Benefit to patients not shown in a randomized trial
highscientific unknownlayer: deploymentopen
The NHS-Galleri randomized trial of 142,250 participants reported that its primary endpoint, a reduction in stage III/IV diagnoses in the test arm, was not met. Detecting cancers is not the same as improving outcomes; longer follow-up and other trials are needed.