In the second of a four-part Health Matters wellness series on frontier medicine in Hong Kong, Fiona Sun looks into how a new PCR system can detect cancer, infections and birth defects within hours, and what it will take to bring such laboratory breakthroughs to patients. Part one can be found here.
It began with a pimple-like lump on Audrey Kwan’s neck. Within a month, it had swollen to the size of a table tennis ball.
But it took blood tests, a biopsy and CAT scans before the Hongkonger, then aged 20, was diagnosed with stage two lymphoma six years ago.
Kwan recalled waiting days for her biopsy results at a public hospital, until the growing tumour caused such severe pain that she was rushed to the emergency department.