A simple blood test reads the liver's quiet scarring — before symptoms start

Liver cirrhosis — progressive scarring of the liver — usually grows in silence: routine blood tests can look normal while the damage builds, and the accurate scans live in specialist centres. In Singapore, the National Cancer Centre Singapore and RNA company Mirxes have launched CIRRHOClear, a blood test that reads tiny molecules called microRNA to flag cirrhosis risk before symptoms appear. It grew out of ELEGANCE, a whole-of-nation study of 2,000 people with liver disease led by the cancer centre, and in validation studies it detected cirrhosis with 89% sensitivity and 95% specificity — roughly, it found about nine in ten cases while rarely raising a false alarm. The test, aimed at adults over 40 at higher risk, gives doctors a simple high, intermediate or low risk reading from an ordinary blood sample. 'Early detection is our best tool to alter the disease trajectory,' said Professor Pierce Chow, the ELEGANCE study's principal investigator.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: tech innovation