Liquid and Synthetic Biopsies

Credit: wild pixel, via iStock.

Advances in early detection and personalized treatments have led to improvements in quality of life and survival rates for many cancers. However, cancer detection and monitoring traditionally rely on tissue biopsies, which are invasive, potentially risky, not appropriate for all cancers, and often unable to capture the full heterogeneity of genetic mutations within a tumor.

Liquid biopsies are less invasive and more informative than standard tissue biopsies, with the potential to detect tumors at their earliest stages, track cancer in real time, and underpin targeted and adaptive treatment strategies.

Read more at IEEE Pulse: Liquid and Synthetic Biopsies are Poised to Rewrite Cancer Care.