{
  "id": 16464023,
  "title": "‘Really terrified’: how a blood test could spare cancer patients an agonising wait",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/25/really-terrified-how-a-blood-test-could-spare-cancer-patients-an",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-25T11:00:31.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "South China Morning Post",
    "slug": "south-china-morning-post",
    "url": "https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/3372012/really-terrified-how-blood-test-could-spare-cancer-patients-agonising-wait"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new PCR (polymerase chain reaction) system, currently undergoing clinical trials at Hong Kong's Advanced Biomedical Instrumentation Centre, promises to detect cancer, infections, and birth defects within hours. This breakthrough could spare patients the distress of waiting days for biopsy results, as experienced by 20-year-old Audrey Kwan, who was diagnosed with stage two lymphoma after six years of waiting. The Hong Kong-based centre, in partnership with the University of Hong Kong and Harvard University, aims to make this advanced technology more accessible and affordable than existing diagnostic tools. The new fourth-generation PCR system works by extracting DNA from a patient's blood sample and dispersing it into millions of droplets using microfluidic chips. These droplets are then photographed and analyzed to detect target locations, offering increased sensitivity and precision compared to conventional methods. The test is expected to produce results within three to four hours and cost from a few hundred to several thousand Hong Kong dollars. Faster diagnosis could lead to more timely treatment, potentially saving lives.",
  "summary": "In the second of a four-part Health Matters wellness series on frontier medicine in Hong Kong, Fiona Sun looks into how a new PCR system can detect cancer, infections and birth defects within hours, and what it will take to bring such laboratory breakthroughs to patients. Part one can be found here. It began with a pimple-like lump on Audrey Kwan’s neck. Within a month, it had swollen to the size…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}