A universal blood test that detects cancer years before symptoms appear is on the horizon, promising to revolutionise cancer care and raise survival rates by as much as 90%, scientists have said.

It was announced at the world's largest oncology conference in Chicago last weekend that the simple procedure can prevent relapses, detect harmful growths that are as small as a pinhead and spot tumours in healthy people up to a decade before they become dangerous.

The test – which works by detecting DNA fragments of tumours in the blood – proved successful in trials of more than 120 patients with breast, lung or prostate cancers. While doctors currently rely on scans and biopsies to detect cancer at a later stage, these so-called 'liquid biopsies' offer a risk-free, repeatable procedure and are particularly applicable to high-risk groups, such as smokers, over-50s and those with a family history of the disease.

Partially funded by Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the trial found that in 89% of patients at least one genetic change detected in the tumour was also apparent in the blood. This rose to 97% in breast cancer patients whose condition had spread. Speaking to The Telegraph, Dr Nicholas Turner of the Institute of Cancer Research and London's Royal Marsden Hospital, said:

"The potential is absolutely clear and very exciting. If we could identify patients with, say, pancreatic or lung cancer at the point they could all have surgery, you could potentially transform management of the disease and survival for patients."