(ECNS) -- A leading cancer expert has warned people not to blindly believe claims that the possibility of cancer can be detected in a single drop of blood, as claimed by some intutitions, China National Radio reported on Monday.
Wang Ning, deputy director of the Beijing Office for Cancer Prevention and Control, said the testing method is a simplified reference to the use of tumor markers, or substances produced by cancer or other cells of the body in response to cancer or certain benign conditions.
He said the use of a one-drop-of-blood sample to detect cancer has some limitations, because noncancerous conditions can cause the levels of certain tumor markers to increase. On the other hand, not everyone with a particular type of cancer will have a higher level of tumor marker associated with that cancer.
Tumor markers are used more often to evaluate the treatment of cancer, rather than testing for it, he added.
The report also said that blood analysis devices that claim to detect certain types of cancer or other conditions often seek to defraud consumers, taking advantage of an an exploding cancer rate in China.
Wang said early detection of cancer is important to treat the disease, and that there are already better tested and more effective methods than the analysis of a drop of blood sample.
More than two million Chinese die from cancer every year and about three million new cases are reported annually, statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission show.
