She Wasn’t Due for Her Colonoscopy. A Blood Test Found Cancer Anyway

A routine Shield blood test from Guardant Health detected colorectal cancer in Kim Turner, an Alaska physician assistant who was not yet due for her next colonoscopy.

A follow-up colonoscopy confirmed adenocarcinoma in her sigmoid colon; she had surgery, was staged at Stage 3, and started chemotherapy.

The case highlights blood-based colorectal screening as a lower-barrier way to catch cancer earlier in people not up to date on colonoscopy.

Shield is meant to complement, not replace, colonoscopy, and any positive blood test must be confirmed with a colonoscopy.