Berkeley: Losing a breast or a lung to cancer leaves a scar, both physical and
emotional. But even a biopsy to determine if a tumor is cancerous, or to
track a tumor’s response to drugs, brings short-term pain and can miss
signs of metastasis. So, the possibility of a scalpel-free biopsy has
been something of a holy grail — a way to relieve trauma, speed
diagnosis and shrink medical bills.The ideal non-surgical approach might start with a simple blood draw. Snippets of DNA or RNA detected in the blood could be analyzed for the presence of a tumor; whether it has metastasized and whether it carries mutations for resistance to specific drugs. Such “liquid biopsies” may now be within reach.