KENT COUNTY, Mich — A cancer diagnosis can be devastating- the earlier it's found the better.
So, what if you could take a blood test to screen for over 50 cancers?
The new Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, offered by GRAIL, promises to do just that.
We sat down with Dr. Diana Bitner, Chief Medical Officer and Co-Founder of True Women's Health, to learn more about how Galleri works.
"In the next year, there'll be 600,000 deaths from cancer in the United States. And that just has to stop," said Dr. Bitner. "The problem is, is that over 70% of cancer deaths happen for cancers that we can't screen for... in women, we can only screen for three cancers, cervical cancer with a Pap smear, breast cancer with a mammogram and colon cancer with a colonoscopy. And men, we can add prostate. And for some we can screen for lung cancer."
Dr. Bitner explains that The Galleri test screens for cancer signals all over the body.
"This test was discovered very interestingly because there are blood tests to screen for chromosome abnormalities in unborn babies. When these blood tests were being done, the researchers in the lab saw that there were the signals coming up of cell-free DNA."
The discovery led Galleri. Samples are sent to a Galleri lab, where the blood is looked at for cell-free DNA, which is then sequenced to look for cancer signals.
Results come back in a matter of weeks.
"If it's a negative signal, it has a good predictive value that there is no cancer. And if there's a positive value, then that means that it needs to be investigated further," explained Dr. Bitner. "It doesn't mean 100% there's a cancer, but it means there's a very high likelihood and so the physician will know what to do next in terms of looking for that cancer."
The information can be critical for doctors as they investigate a potential health concern.
"The signal not only shows that there is likely a cancer, but it also shows where in the body it's coming from. So, if it's a cancer from the head, neck, if it's a cancer from the abdominal area, like the pancreas, gallbladder. If it's from... uterus, ovary, then there's a signal there," said Dr. Bitner.
Dr. Bitner said this test could be beneficial for several groups:
*Those with a previous cancer diagnosis to check for recurrence
*Those over 50, as the cancer risk increases as you age
*Those at risk due to lifestyle, i.e. smoking
*Those who don't know their family history
Dr. Bitner falls into the last group due to being adopted.
"This is where, for me, this gets very personal," she said. "I know some of my genetic information. I know my birth mother's side, I don't know my birth father's side. And so I have a lot of questions about what could be there."
Dr. Bitner was able to reconnect with her birth mother as an adult before she passed away, but still wanted some answers.
She decided to undergo the Galleri test in December and was relieved to receive a negative result.
"I'm so excited about where life has taken me, I am engaged to be married to a wonderful man, he has four children, I have three children, we just have an exciting life ahead of us. I love my work... I don't want to be limited by cancer," she said. " And so because there's an unknown risk in my past, I want to know everything I can do to screen for potential cancers that are coming so I can be very proactive."
The Galleri test costs roughly $900 and is not covered by insurance, but the information it provides could be priceless.
"Knowledge is power. If we find a cancer early then we can likely treat it. Not only does it improve chance of survival, it reduces the risk of spread to other organs, again, making it much more difficult. But it also reduces the burden of treatment," Dr. Bitner told FOX 17 News.
Galleri is currently offered at True Women's Health.
If you have questions, contact your doctor.
To learn more about Galleri, click here or watch our story with Dr. Bitner.
