Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

captainmcfuckface t1_jad75fo wrote

Reply to comment by AlbinoShavedGorilla in New medical device can detect and analyze cancer cells from blood samples, allowing doctors to avoid invasive biopsy surgeries, and to monitor treatment progress. by chrisdh79

I was thinking the opposite. that trace amounts of cancer are always happening in the body and being told to kill themselves by the immune system.

And if a device is sensitive enough to detect cancer in these ways, we suddenly end up with a 100% cancer rate and a lot of needless stress.

Ironically making real cancer rates higher

29

DataDrivenOrgasm t1_jadgwdy wrote

The cancer cell needs to be circulating and viable for this assay to work. They isolate individual cells from the blood and culture them to determine if any are cancerous. This is not a sensitive assay; far from it. They can shift through a little over 10,000 cells per assay. But blood has over 10 billion blood cells per ml. The cancer cells would need to be at level greater than 1 million per ml to be detected reliably.

10

captainmcfuckface t1_jadi80u wrote

ok, but still…

Japan almost never worries about cancer screening without a symptom and they have a longer life expectancy.

Personally, I think all the fear mongering over cancer is worse for us as a whole.

−11

stillfumbling t1_jadkmj7 wrote

I highly suspect that is correlation not causation.

Japanese diets (and activity levels??) are significantly different that in the US.

10

captainmcfuckface t1_jadwkw4 wrote

someone’s never been to Japan. Their cancer rate is actually higher than the US and survival rate is lower. Our obsession with screening DOES save lives. Don’t get me wrong.

As far as diet goes, no. They eat a LOT of fried foods, beer, and cakes.

The main difference it walking. Transit vs cars, stairs vs elevators, and of course universal healthcare, are all part of better health. But Japan is often referred to as “the smoker’s paradise.”

−3

CantStopMeReddit4 t1_jae1fsz wrote

Ok but you’re conflating a bunch of different stats here and not really making a cogent argument. You cite longer Japanese life expectancy (which is a general statistic not specific to cancer) while then citing how they don’t screen until there’s a symptom and that their survival rate is lower. There’s not really a clear point that you’re making as a result.

If their survival rate with cancer is lower then it would seem to behoove them to screen for cancer earlier via methods like the one in the article and you might have better cancer survival rates by catching things much quicker.

6

stillfumbling t1_jae4ttz wrote

Agreed. I have no idea what we just read.

If they screen less for cancer and have lower survival rates, that may suggest that more robust screening is good.

If diets are similar (I still don’t buy it, there’s also the issue of quantity, and additives etc…) and life expectancy is longer, maybe activity level and obesity are likely culprits.

No coherent point above though…

1