Lay summary
The burden of cancer among Pacific peoples living in New Zealand and in the Pacific remains a public health concern. Given the health inequalities that exist for Pacific peoples and the global burden of cancer, it remains a priority to consider the medical situation for cancer patients not only in New Zealand, but also in the Pacific. It is acknowledged that within this resource constrained environment, the diagnosis, treatment and management of cancer patients is fraught with challenges and difficulties where routine tests and equipment may be unavailable and even vary from hospital to hospital. Overall this project seeks to explore the literature base to support the utilisation of a cancer detection method known as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) to improve the diagnosis, care and health outcomes of cancer patients with a focus on exploring its use as an early cancer detection method.