Australian patients with T-cell lymphoma are among the first in the world to have access to circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) tests, thanks to funding by two not-for-profit organisations.

The advance in genomic diagnostics helps to tailor treatment for patients with blood cancers, with a “meaningful outcome” yielded for 60% of patients tested to date, according to Dr Piers Blombery from the molecular haematology laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

The test can replace lymph node or bone marrow biopsies and are “invaluable” when such invasive diagnostics aren’t possible, says Professor Miles Prince, director of cancer immunology and molecular oncology at Epworth Healthcare and co-founder of the Snowdome Foundation charity.

Snowdome and the Epworth Medical Foundation are currently funding the $500 test, mainly for patients who are not responding to their current treatment or where there is limited access for a biopsy.