A prospective study conducted at Guangdong Lung Cancer Institute in China, established a clinically significant cut-off point of 18 months for serial liquid biopsy-based screening to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) in lung cancer patients after early-stage surgical treatment. This will allow oncologists to identify patients in need of appropriate adjuvant treatment resulting in better cancer surveillance, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

MRD cells may persist after treatment and have the potential to cause relapse. A positive MRD test indicates the presence of disease after treatment while a negative result means that the chances of disease recurrence are very less for high-risk patients with cancer.

GlobalData forecasts the Chinese oncology market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 3% between 2022 and 2025. Additional research and development of new technologies are expected to further drive the oncology market in China.

Shachee Singh, Medical Devices Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The cost of limitless post-treatment surveillance places a heavy financial burden on the patients suffering from lung cancer. A liquid biopsy test for MRD screening in such patients, immediately after the early surgical intervention being able to identify patients at the risk of relapse, will not only reduces the treatment cost but also avoids unnecessary treatments.”

Following the 18-month duration without a positive result, the study concludes that the risk of relapse gradually declines in patients with high-risk stage II/III non–small cell lung cancer. The study also determines, from additional analyses, that adjuvant therapy may not benefit patients with undetectable MRD.

Singh concludes: “Though this study yielded positive results, additional prospective studies involving a larger patient pool and longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm that relapse will not occur post the 18-month cut-off period.”