--- description: Find out why Guardant Health Shield is one of the best inventions of 2024 title: Guardant Health Shield: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt924765da7d3e6bfc/698a8a1b09208f6e9e42248f/guardant-health-shield-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Oct 30, 2024 # Simple Cancer Testing by [Jessica Klein](/author/jessica-klein/) ## Jessica Klein Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  Colorectal cancer is the[ second most common cause](https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/common.html#:~:text=Lung%20and%20bronchus%20cancer%20is%20responsible%20for%20the%20most%20deaths,common%20cause%20of%20cancer%20death. "undefined") of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., killing approximately 53,000 people each year. Despite this, 50 million people eligible for screenings don’t do them, says Guardant Health co-CEO AmirAli Talasaz, and one[ study](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6309478/#:~:text=In%20this%20study%20of%201%2C750%20patients%20who,62%%29%20the%20risk%20of%20death%20from%20CRC. "undefined") found 76% of deaths occurred in patients who hadn’t been screened. Guardant’s Shield test makes screening as routine as getting blood drawn—that’s all it entails. A much pleasanter option than colonoscopies and stool samples, the Shield test detects colon cancer tissue in blood samples using data analysis and AI. A March 2024[ study in _The New England Journal of Medicine_](https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2304714 "undefined") put Shield’s detection sensitivity rate at 83%, and it was FDA approved for use in the U.S. in July. These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. Guardant Health Shield: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094708/guardant-health-shield/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094708/guardant-health-shield/"},"headline":"Guardant Health Shield: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024","datePublished":"2024-10-30T11:41:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T11:54:29.630Z","description":"Find out why Guardant Health Shield is one of the best inventions of 2024","url":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094708/guardant-health-shield/","keywords":["Tech","E-Commerce","list","franchise","Magazine","best inventions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt924765da7d3e6bfc/698a8a1b09208f6e9e42248f/guardant-health-shield-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jessica Klein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jessica-klein/"}],"creator":"Jessica Klein","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt924765da7d3e6bfc/698a8a1b09208f6e9e42248f/guardant-health-shield-best-inventions.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-tech/","name":"Tech"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2024/7094708/guardant-health-shield/","name":"Guardant Health Shield: the 200 Best Inventions of 2024"}}]}] ```