The average age at onset of liver cancer among Bangladeshis is 18 years earlier than the population of other countries, Prof Mamun Al Mahtab Shwapnil, one of the key researchers of the new cancer test development, has said.

"But the big challenge here, like anywhere else, is early diagnosis. It's common both in Bangladesh and India that patients come at an advanced stage when we basically have little to do to cure them. The only option is supportive care like palliation," he told Dhaka Tribune on Monday.