A newly developed test that can assess metastatic tumors forming in people with prostate cancer has been discovered.

Researchers from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, have collaborated with colleagues from other research institutions to develop a new test for the assessment of metastasis risk.

According to them, the new test, is cheaper and faster than other methods currently available, and it requires only small tissue samples.

According to the National Cancer Institute, about 11.2 percent of men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis at some point in time.

Individuals with a first-time prostate cancer diagnosis and those who have undergone previous treatment for this form of cancer need to receive tests to determine their risk of metastasis.

If the risk of cancer spreading is high, the doctor may advise the person to proceed with a more aggressive type of treatment.

The new test is said to detect copy number alterations (CNAs), which are changes in the genome that drive the spread of cancer tumors. By assessing CNAs in samples of blood or prostate tissue, specialists can get a better idea of whether or not the cancer cells are proliferating.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Harry Ostrer said, “we have demonstrated that CNAs can be detected rapidly and accurately with the new Next-Generation Copy Number Alteration (NG-CNA) assay.

“The impact of this information is two-fold: to assure aggressive therapy at the time of diagnosis for men with metastasis-prone disease and provide a rationale for active surveillance (and not overtreatment) for men with indolent disease (disease that progresses at a slow pace).”

In the paper that the researchers submitted to The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, Dr Ostrer explain that the NG-CNA can analyze 902 genomic sites across 194 genomic regions, which it can do both faster than existing tests and at a lower cost.