Blood tests could predict how long it takes until bowel cancer returns based on the same principle used in forecasting the weather, a new study has found.

The exciting new technique involves growing ‘mini tumours’ from biopsy samples – and could help end reliance on trial and error in selecting cancer treatments.

Giving patients with bowel cancer an MRI scan and a blood test could pick out those who would benefit from a targeted cancer treatment, a new study reports.