Early diagnosis
Tumour detection is currently done on the basis of a combination of imaging and a biopsy, in which a piece of an organ or tissue is removed for examination under the microscope. This is an invasive, time-consuming and expensive medical procedure.
VITO joined forces with University Hospital Antwerp (UZA), Biocartis, PharmaFluidics (a spin-off of the VUB) and the Research Institute for Chromatography (RIC) to develop a method to detect tumours in blood or urine.
This ‘liquid biopsy’ test offers many advantages for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer: a blood or urine sample is sufficient to detect traces of tumours. Cancer and metastases could therefore be detected more easily and at an earlier stage.
