Combining a spectroscopy technique called surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) with a new, sophisticated analysis technique called support vector machine (SVM), researchers at Guangdong Medical College in China may have discovered a new, non-invasive way to screen patients at risk for prostate cancer. The researcher's findings were published in Applied Physics Letters, an American Institute of Physics journal.
By applying the combination of SERS and SVM to blood samples from 68 healthy volunteers and 93 people with prostate cancer, the researchers were able to identify the prostate patients with an accuracy of 98.1 percent.
"Compared to traditional screening methods, this method has the advantages of being non-invasive, highly sensitive and very simple for prostate cancer screening," Shaoxin Li, lead researcher, said in a statement. The team is hoping to refine their technique and explore whether this method can distinguish cancer staging.
Traditional screening methods include a rectal exam as well as a simple blood test for elevated levels of a protein marker known as prostate specific antigen (PSA). The problem with PSA is that non-cancerous things sometimes contribute to elevated levels.
Those red herring outcomes sometimes lead to over-diagnosis, uncomfortable tissue biopsies, and other unnecessary treatments which may carry their own significant side effects. The press release states that the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force now recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate.
The researchers hope that by establishing a dependable, affordable, and non-invasive way to screen for prostate cancer, more people will undergo screening and more lives can be saved through early detection.
According to the World Health Organization, there are 899,000 cases of prostate cancer diagnosed every year, and 260,000 mortalities. Currently, about one in every six men will develop prostate cancer at some point over their lifetime.
