Hi Razz,

Thanks for posting on the forum. The moderators have asked us nurses to reply.

The research that was talked about on the news and in our science blog is at a very early stage. You are right in saying that it is part of the Tracerx clinical trial. However this is only talking about what has happened in the first 100 patients in the trial so more work needs to be done on it.

Having identified those people who have the circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) the aim will be to look at finding specific treatment for their cancer, this is known as personalised treatment. These treatments are still under development so currently finding the ctDNA is only the beginning of the process. The important part will be identifying the right treatment.

As I said this is at a very early stage and it will certainly be a while, even years, before this is a routinely used test on lung cancer patients.

Take care,

Deborah