The Apollo Cancer Centres across the country will offer a blood test to detect breast cancer early. The Apollo Hospitals group has entered into a collaboration with Datar Cancer Genetics to conduct the blood test.
On Wednesday, the hospital’s founder and chairman Pathap C. Reddy announced this at a conference virtually from Hyderabad.
“Breast cancer, a non-communicable disease, is growing at the rate of 15% in the country. If you can diagnose the disease early, it is curable. Easy Check blood test can detect breast cancer at an early stage. Already, 15 countries across the world, like the U.K. and the U.S., are doing it. In India, we have exclusive arrangement with Datar. The test will be offered as part of Pro-Health, our master health check-up,” he said.
Darshana Patil, medical director of Datar Cancer Genetics, said at a press meet in Chennai that the test would be offered to women aged over 40. “Survival can be 99% if breast cancer is detected in early stages and goes down to 30% in late stage detection. In India, the cancer death rate is very high as early stage detection is only 10% whereas in the U.S. it is more than 50%.” she said.
The test is customised to detect blood cancer. About 5 ml of blood was drawn and was tested for the presence of cancer markers, she said.
Apollo Hospitals Vice-Chairperson Preetha Reddy said it was a giant leap in the right direction. “The step to screen people, to find and detect early is significant and important for all of us. Easy Check is a simple blood test and with that we can see the propensity of the disease.”
The hospital authorities said the test had been approved by the USFDA. Apollo Hospital will offer the test, which is priced at ₹6,000, as part of its scheme Pro Health.
