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Published online 2 July 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.930
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Blood test can monitor cancer spread
New test could let doctors track treatment outcomes without using invasive surgery.
A new device that can detect minute numbers of tumour cells circulating in the blood of lung cancer patients may one day make monitoring the disease as simple as taking a blood test.
By liberating doctors from the need to perform invasive procedures to obtain tumour cells, the method could bring medicine a step closer to the long-sought goal of tailoring therapies to a patient’s individual genetic makeup.
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