Maybe one day, medical science will find a way to eradicate lung cancer from the face of the earth. Until then, improving diagnosis of lung cancer at the early stages will remain an urgent priority. To save lives, the diagnostic would have to be not only accurate and highly sensitive, but relatively inexpensive, simple and easy to use. Something like a blood test. Of course, laboratories and research scientists around the world are working toward that goal. And now comes word of a promising project taking place north of the border. The Diagnostic Challenge Few forms of cancer are as deadly as lung cancer. One reason for that is the absence of clinical symptoms in its early stages. Adding to the problem is that CT screening, the primary method of diagnosing lung cancer, is a costly procedure that physicians are highly unlikely to order for patients without symptoms. As a result, lung cancer is most often diagnosed in the later stages. By then, the cancer has advanced enough to do damage and make treatment outcomes poor. Thus, approximately half of all lung cancer cases are likely to be diagnosed at stage 4 when the patient’s three-year survival rate can be […]