Accurate diagnosis of tumours is the foundation of all cancer therapy. Understanding a tumour’s precise molecular alterations will allow for very focused targeting of tumour using “targeted” anti-cancer drugs. Up to recently, this biopsy of tumour tissue, typically involved inserting a large needle into the tumour to extract cancer cells.

Guardant Liquid biopsy is an extremely sophisticated blood test that allows your doctor to initially avoid tumour needle biopsy, focusing instead on the detection minute amounts of tumour DNA in your bloodstream.

This avoids the complication of biopsy – which includes pain, bleeding and air-leak. Liquid biopsies can allow for the longitudinal tracking of tumour mutations – clonal and sub-clonal – as the cancer evolves and responds to treatment.