Scientists have just achieved what could be a key breakthrough in the battle against cancer, finding that blood tests that are known as liquid biopsies hold tremendous promise for catching cancer early in screening and therefore boosting survival rates. Doctors in Hong Kong found that it increased early detection and one measure of survival for a type of head and neck cancer.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved nasopharyngeal cancer, which forms at the top of the threat just behind the nose. Scientists chose this type of cancer because it’s an aggressive cancer where survival is heavily dependent on early detection.

“This work is very exciting on the larger scale” because it gives a blueprint for how to make tests for other tumor types such as lung or breast, said Dr. Dennis Lo of Chinese University of Hong Kong according to a CBS News report. “We are brick by brick putting that technology into place.”