This is the idea of the deep freeze biorepositories that have been funded (and defunded). One of my friends is a molecular pathologist who does the MaterniT21. The data is quite tantalizing, because you're just going along looking for trisomy 21 and, wham, there's this case with tons of cell-free DNA that doesn't align, you call the provider, and the woman's been having constipation, the GI doc does a colonoscopy and she's got a fungating mass in her cecum.
But that's a long way from detecting small tumors. Which is something I'm not sure people understand: you need a big tumor to spill enough cell-free DNA to detect.
But that's a long way from detecting small tumors. Which is something I'm not sure people understand: you need a big tumor to spill enough cell-free DNA to detect.