The AMAS Test For Early Detection and Monitoring of Cancer

by Ron Schmid, N.D.

Most people are unaware that there is a reliable, scientifically proven laboratory blood test for detecting over 99% of all cancers. "Why haven't the doctors I see ordered this test?" people often ask me. Good question. I can only answer that this is yet another example of the resistance to innovative change that the medical establishment constantly demonstrates. Most doctors are simply unaware of the AMAS test because the  powers that be ignore the test, and it remains largely unknown.

AMAS stands for "anti-malignin antibody in serum." The test is extremely sensitive; blood levels of this antibody rise early in the course of the vast majority of cancers of all types, regardless of location in the body. The test is especially useful when cancer is suspected but has not been confirmed by a biopsy.

One study involving the test was published in the journal Cancer Detection and Prevention in 1994. In 125 patients and controls, 118 were subsequently diagnosed by the time the article was published. In 21 individuals who were subsequently proven to have cancer, the AMAS test was elevated. The test was normal in 94, none of whom were shown to have cancer. In three other subjects who did not have cancer, the test was elevated when first done but a second test was normal. The other seven subjects had positive AMAS tests but remained undiagnosed at the time of the article, but all showed symptoms of cancer that likely indicated its presence.

The study was consistent with other published tests that indicate that the AMAS test is over 95% reliable on the first test, and over 99% reliable when a repeat test is performed. The test is a standardized, validated assay, developed over 15 years ago by Peter Bogovich, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Bogovich has conducted scores of studies and published widely on the test.

Another study published in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry in 1994 stated that levels typically rise with age and are higher in individuals at high risk for cancer because of family history, but stay within normal levels even when benign growths occur. "We demonstrated that the concentration is most markedly increased within weeks of the occurrence of malignant transformation to clinical breast cancer," these researchers wrote. This study involved breast cancer, but the test is valid for all cancer types. Other researchers have written that the test is an excellent screening method.

The AMAS test also is useful in monitoring the treatment of malignancies. Levels typically return to normal within two to three months of successful treatment. Other biological markers in the blood are much less specific and are usually not elevated early in the course of disease or recurrence. Thus the AMAS test is an excellent way to screen for and detect cancer or recurrences, and to track treatment progress during treatment. Conventional cancer treatment authorities are committed to a host of expensive but highly profitable diagnostic (and treatment) techniques (mammograms, MRIs, gastrointestinal series, etc.). Were it not for the intransigence of established authorities, the AMAS test undoubtedly would be much more widely used.