Blood test that can detect eight of the most common cancers could be available in next few years

Health

Test 'could reduce number of people dying from cancer'

US researchers are now trialling the test on 10,000 more people to examine how effective it is, as well as to help determine how much the test could cost patients in the future.

"The big question's going to be the cost," Professor Gibbs said.

"I suspect currently you're looking at $1,000 or something like that, in terms of what the tests would cost."

But Professor Gibbs said they expected the cost to come down over time as the technology progressed and the number of people being tested rose.

"So hopefully, eventually this will be a few hundred dollars, which puts it in the ballpark of many other tests that we routinely do," he said.

Professor Gibbs said the test could one day reduce the number of people dying from cancer in Australia every year.

Some of the cancer screening tests that already exist, he said, currently reduce the risk of death by up to 50 per cent.

"It's probably going to have a much bigger impact on tumours like pancreas cancer which are almost always diagnosed late, rather than bowel cancer which we pick up a little bit earlier," he said.

"So it's going to vary cancer by cancer, but it should have a major impacts on all the tumour types and reduce cancer deaths in Australia by many thousands."

Professor Gibbs said it could be some years before the test becomes available in Australian clinics.