Dr. Gail Roboz

Gene mutations detected in blood may predict risk of one of the most common forms of adult leukemia a decade before patients are diagnosed with the disease, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

For Ralph Hills, getting ready for minor back surgery in December 2014 was no big deal. At 71, the computer consultant was physically fit—regularly playing golf and tennis—and his heart and lungs were in good shape. So when he went for a routine pre-operative blood test, he never expected to get a call referring him to an oncologist near where he lives in suburban Connecticut.

A technique developed by Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators can detect cancer cells surviving therapy in the most common form of leukemia in adults more sensitively and precisely than traditional microscopic observation.