OSF HealthCare collaborates with DELFI for lung cancer screening

SF HealthCare has partnered with DELFI Diagnostics to implement the FirstLook Lung test, aiming to boost lung cancer screening rates.

This initiative aligns with the Biden Cancer Moonshot’s objective to increase access to cancer screening. The DELFI Diagnostics’ FirstLook Lung test, a blood-based screening tool, will initially be integrated into primary care settings at 18 OSF locations, with expansion plans across the OSF Ministry within a year.

The test is designed to detect lung cancer by analysing DNA fragment patterns in the blood, with an 80% sensitivity rate in screenings, including early-stage disease detection.

It has also shown a 99.8% negative predictive value, indicating a low probability of lung cancer presence when results are ‘Not Elevated’.

OSF HealthCare Cancer Institute founding director and radiation oncologist James McGee said: “Early detection of lung cancer is key to improving patient outcomes, and we are confident that innovative, accessible new screening approaches like FirstLook Lung will move the needle on lung cancer screening rates among our patients.

“We are encouraged that FirstLook Lung’s advanced technology will not only offer our patients a simpler way to enter the screening funnel but will also give our practitioners the accurate data needed to make the right decision about the next steps in lung cancer detection for each patient.”

OSF HealthCare’s current efforts have led 35% of eligible patients in Illinois to undergo low-dose CT scans, the standard for early lung cancer detection.

DELFI chief medical officer Peter Bach said: “FirstLook Lung, because it is a simple blood test, offers a way to improve lung cancer screening in communities not currently receiving it, and provides a result that can help patients and their doctors decide together about proceeding with an LDCT scan.

“The goal is to detect the possibility of cancer early through this test that is easy to incorporate into the routine blood work of eligible patients who have not yet been screened.” Headquartered in the US, OSF HealthCare is an integrated health system with 16 hospitals and a network of more than 150 locations.