Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have developed a simple, non-invasive test that research shows can accurately detect 14 different types of stage I cancer.

The scientists published the results of their work in the specialized journal PNAS.

A cancer-detecting biomarker in the blood and urine samples of 1,260 volunteers was tracking the levels of glycosaminoglycans, a type of sugar that is an important part of metabolism.

The proportion of true negatives correctly predicted by this test was high at 95 percent.

It also predicted the location of tumors with 89 percent accuracy.

The study authors claim that their method can detect stage I cancer with a sensitivity of up to 62 percent.

This simple test will cost less than $50, five to ten times less than the average liquid biopsy blood test.

However, scientists still have a few steps to go before this test becomes standard medical practice.

"The next step is validation in a sample of more than 10,000 participants to see the settings in which it would be most appropriate to use it," said Karolinska Institutet (Sweden) researcher and lead study author Francesco Gatto in a commentary to Spanish newspaper El País.

It will be recalled that the 36-year-old resident of Spain already had cancer 12 times during her short life, and these were completely different types of tumors.

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