Genetic blood testing is showing potential as a means of catching some early stage cancers, researchers are reporting, according to Hartford Courant.

For example, a panel of three different genetic tests was able to detect early stage lung cancer about half of the time in people who'd already been diagnosed with the disease.

The tests also detected late-stage lung cancers about 9 out of 10 times, the researchers said.

The findings were reported in June at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting, in Chicago.

"This is proof of principle that broad genome-wide sequencing has the ability to find cancer, and sometimes early stage curable cancer," said lead study author Dr. Geoffrey Oxnard. He's an associate professor of medicine at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.

"That creates an opportunity for further development as a cancer detection or screening assay," he said.

Cancer survival rates soar when tumors are detected in their earliest stages, the researchers said in background notes. Having a blood test that can detect early cancers would save countless lives.