Mother's blood test can diagnose cancer early in her child

(Baonghean.vn) - According to a recent study by Professor Dennis Lo, a former student of Cambridge University, blood tests for pregnant mothers can detect children with birth defects. This blood testing technique has great potential for further application in the future, and can even diagnose cancer early.

Fetal DNA can be seen in the mother's plasma.

Dennis Lo discovered that DNA from a fetus can be found in the mother's plasma, this DNA is temporarily called cell-free fetal DNA (CFF-DNA). From this CFF-DNA, doctors can diagnose diseases of the fetus even before birth.

This is a great discovery because in the past, pregnant women often had to use amniocentesis for prenatal diagnosis - a relatively dangerous method because it easily caused the risk of miscarriage.

Now, with Dennis Lo's blood testing technique, just a sample of the mother's blood is enough to diagnose congenital diseases in the child - such as Down syndrome, thereby screening for fetuses with abnormalities.

Cancer cells will be detected from the DNA in the patient's blood.

Dennis Lo's method is called Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), which looks at DNA sequences to diagnose diseases. He believes that this method will change the world because other diseases such as cancer can also be detected when tumors form in the DNA of patients' blood.

Although the cost of the PCR method is currently quite expensive, in the future when it is widely applied, the price of this test will be cheaper. With this method, patients really benefit a lot when they only need to do a blood test, they can see all the diseases they have.

Thanh Hien

According to CNN