I recently heard about the Galleri cancer detection test from a friend who receives care at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. This groundbreaking test is revolutionizing how we approach cancer screening, offering a comprehensive and non-invasive way to detect over 50 types of cancer – at a very early stage – through a simple blood draw.
The test works by analyzing DNA fragments in the blood, known as cell-free DNA, to determine whether they contain any cancer-associated mutations. It is said to have a very low-level of false positives or false negatives. Additionally, the blood fragments ‘signals’ give doctors a good a good sense of the type of cancer it is.
With my interest piqued, I asked two other friends about it – 1 is a doctor at Mayo; the other works for a company that did clinical trials on the test. They both confirmed that (in their minds) Galleri is a real breakthrough. (In addition to Mayo, it’s also being used at the esteemed Cleveland Clinic & Johns Hopkins).
The potential benefits of the Galleri test are immense. By detecting cancer earlier, patients and doctors have a much better chance of treating the disease effectively. Among the cancers detected are many of the most common & deadly cancers – including pancreatic & ovarian – for which there is no other early screening commonly done today.
The testing could lead to quicker, less invasive treatment options, improved survival rates, and reduced healthcare costs in the long run. (However, it’s important to remember that this test doesn’t replace regular cancer screenings like mammograms or colonoscopies. Instead, it complements them by providing a broader scope of detection.)
Of course, one of the critical factors to consider with the Galleri test is the cost. At $949, it’s not an inexpensive option. The test is not yet covered by health insurance, as FDA trials are still underway and maybe a year or two from completion. Still, it may be a valuable investment if you have a family history of cancer or other high-risk factors. I didn’t find any info on how often they will recommend people take the test, since some cancers develop and spread frighteningly fast.
I’m certainly no health care professional – I suggest discussing it with your healthcare provider to determine if it’s appropriate for you and your unique health profile. We’re thinking of going to Mayo this year for extensive physicals and will take it there, if recommended. The test looks like it’s now also available to everyone through a lab / kit that you can order online.
Have you heard of this test? Are you interested in trying it?
Related: WaPost article on blood cancer screening tests
Image: Grail, Galleri Test
MrFireStation 
Friends of mine just took it. They haven’t gotten the results yet. With a family history of cancer, as well as my own history, I would probably consider it.
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Interesting! Let me know what they think when they get their results.
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This was the first I have heard of it. If this new test followed a learning curve similar to the technology industry, the price would come down. Often the medical community is slow to adopt new breakthroughs.
There are new players getting involved in US healthcare who are experts in supply chains and offering value to US Consumers.
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Yes – if used widely, it should become more affordable. That said, government could muck it up, too! One key will be how insurers look at it. Do they think it will help them save money down the line, or is it just an added claim?
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Here is another way that adoption of this test could be slowed. Cologuard is another non-invasive cancer test for colon cancer. Colonoscopies are still being pushed by ‘Health’ Insurance Companies despite their cost being 3X higher than the non-invasive test. Fecal occult blood test is the standard in the rest of the world.
Here is another dirty secret provided to me from my wife in the form of a paper that considered the effectiveness of Colonoscopies. A percentage of patients die from the industrial strength laxatives and fasting. A percentage of patients die from the general anesthesia. A percent of patients die from infection and bleeding caused by their intestine being perforated by the procedure itself. Finally, the equipment cannot be autoclaved to sterilize it properly, so a percentage of patients die from cross contamination. When you weigh the lives saved by early detection versus the lives taken by the procedure itself, more people die from the procedure than are saved. I cited this to my physician when he was recommending a colonoscopy during my last visit. He told me he never knew of any this happening to any of his patients. My wife worked as a Recovery Room RN for over four decades, recovering patients from day surgery, and she tells me she has gets to call surgeons when one of their colonoscopy patients has one of the problems described. She actually worked at the same hospital our family physician refers patients to for ten years, so I trust my wife on this.
So why isn’t the less invasive and cheaper Cologuard Test the standard of care instead of Colonoscopies? Follow the money. Gastroenterologists charge $3,000 per procedure and crank out quite a few per day. They would lose much of their business and many would need train to provide another type of medical care. That my friend is how the USA has the most expensive healthcare in the world, and yet does not match the life expectancy of other countries that spend a fraction of the USA.
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Wow – a friend of mine worked on a clinical for the Cologuard / “Poop through the Post”. He also said its effectiveness was just as good. I’m only 2 years from my next one (@60). I think I’ll read up and try to opt for that approach. I hated drinking that laxative stuff anyway!
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Your last comment got to the root of the problem, which is insurance companies don’t necessarily pay for the best medical care. Sounds like this post is causing you to rethink Cologuard versus Colonoscopy. I often end up paying myself, so I have better control of my medical care. The cost of Cologuard is listed at $581 on GoodRx.com and provides a telephone number to get this test with the discounted price of $581, if your insurance company doesn’t pay.
This is getting to one of my big beefs with ‘health’ insurance companies is that they have too much control over what type of medical care you can get. Often, I end up paying myself and would often pay with my FSA when I had one of those. Here are three examples where I self paid to have more control over my medical care.
I lost a front tooth to an athletic injury. Dental insurance was trying to push me to getting a bridge which would have meant cutting down at least too perfectly good adjacent teeth to install the bridge. I wanted a single tooth dental implant because it looks more natural and doesn’t requiring cutting down any perfectly good teeth. I paid for having the titanium socket and post installed myself and got the dental insurance company to pay for the crown. My out of pocket was $3,000 pretax (paid with FSA) back in 1997 and the implant just had its 27th Birthday with no problems.
I had another athletic injury and got an inguinal hernia. The surgeons that my insurance company listed on their roster all wanted to install mesh to close the hernia. My wife is an RN who recovered day surgeries and she warned me that she saw a lot of problems with hernia mesh causing patients to go back for two and three surgeries. There were also ads for attorneys suing on behalf of women who were injured by mesh. I searched around and found that very few surgeons were doing the no-mesh procedure. There was one operating out of Las Vegas who has a website https://www.noinsurancesurgery.com/ with a specialty in no-mesh hernia surgery. I interviewed the surgeon and he seemed well qualified having spent the first part of his career doing organ transplants. His all-inclusive cost was $5,000 around ten years ago. I ran as much as I could through my FSA. There would have been deductibles with the insurance company, so the cost difference was less than $5,000.
Here is where it gets crazy. When we showed up, it turned out my RN wife already knew the surgeon. He had jars of botched hernia mesh on display where he had corrected other surgeon’s mistakes. Dr. Petersen explained that each of his jars represents a lot of pain for someone and major problems in their life consisting of problems like pain killer addiction, lost jobs, and broken marriages. He explained that mesh cost the manufacturers cents to manufacture and they sold if for around $800. The manufacturers are very aggressive in marketing mesh as ‘the standard of care’. Dr. Petersen actually had to defend himself against the Nevada Medical Board and used the statistics on his outcomes to make them go away. Adding to the craziness, within one quarter after my surgery, advertisements starting popping up on tv with lawyers suing on behalf of male patients who were injured by hernia mesh surgeries. I am past ten years without any problems.
Back to dentists for the final one. My wife and I are on Medicare Advantage Plans that allegedly offer no cost teeth cleaning and exams through a DHMO. We have found that the dentist selection is limited and many of the dentists are crooked. I have never had a cavity in my life, and the first dentist I went to presented a $3,000 dental treatment plan that included four fillings and root plaining on all four quadrants. Adding insult to injury, he didn’t clean my teeth, which was the reason I went to him in the first place. I went back to my dentist who did my dental implant and paid $90 out of pocket for cleaning. He found no cavities that needed filling or roots that needed a deep cleaning. In this case it is less expensive going to an honest dentist and paying out of pocket.
Here are two takeaways. The first is that there is a lot of bad medical care being provided under “the standard of care”. To me the words “the standard of care” is a red flag. George Washington received “the standard of care” for his time in the form of blood letting, which some assert was the cause of his death. The second is that insurance companies can act as blockers to getting the best care and more governmental control is not the fix. Arm yourself with the best information available and sometimes you might have to pay a little extra out of pocket to get a better outcome.
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