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A new artificial-intelligence blood test, a higher tech liquid biopsy, may be able to detect silent liver disease years before symptoms appear. Oncologists at Johns Hopkins find that tiny fragments of DNA circulating in the bloodstream may contain hidden clues about early liver damage long before patients and their medical teams realize anything is wrong.

The researchers analyzed blood samples from 1,576 people using an AI system that studies patterns in cell-free DNA fragments. Each test evaluated about 40 million DNA fragments spread across the genome. Instead of searching for specific gene mutations, the technology looks at how these fragments are broken apart and distributed. Such patterns help identify early liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, conditions that often go undetected with current screening tools.

Liver disease affects an estimated 100 million Americans, and early stages are often silent without noticeable symptoms. Detecting liver scarring earlier could help doctors monitor patients and address underlying risk factors before serious complications and the need for a liver transplant develop.

While this test is still experimental and not yet ready for routine use in clinical care, it highlights how AI-based blood analysis may help identify hidden disease earlier in the future.

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