(HealthNewsDigest.com)- COLUMBUS, Ohio – Using just a few drops of blood, researchers have found that they could detect signs of lung cancer in patients two years before their tumors were visible using state-of-the-art body scans.

“What that means is that we may be on the verge of developing a blood test to detect lung cancer in it’s earliest stages” said Dr. Carlo Croce, Director of the Human Cancer Genetics program at Ohio Sate’s James Cancer Hospital.

Croce and his team discovered that molecules in the blood, known as microRNA, develop certain characteristic patterns when lung cancer first begins to form – and long before there are any visible signs of trouble. “The tumor is there, but it’s very small” said Croce, “it cannot be detected by conventional means but can be detected by looking at microRNA.”