In the fourth instalment of a six-part Health Matters wellness series on cancer in Hong Kong, Elizabeth Cheung examines how city researchers are developing new blood tests to detect the disease earlier, and what they could mean for screenings and diagnoses.

Retired Hong Kong businessman Peter Wan Ying-keung still remembers the uncertainty and discomfort of his months-long journey to a prostate cancer diagnosis 13 years ago.

It began with a routine blood test in 2013 that showed elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a possible warning sign of cancer.

Wan, now 73, then underwent an invasive biopsy to extract tissue samples from his prostate – a procedure that left him bleeding for around two days. From the initial test to a confirmed diagnosis, the process took three months.

“The biopsy procedure could be frightening for some people,” Wan said. “It would be ideal if a diagnosis could be made without a biopsy.”

Local researchers have said that they hope fewer patients in Hong Kong will need to undergo invasive biopsies to confirm cancer, as they are developing an affordable blood test to screen for the disease, with plans to launch the technology in about two years.