kempten
![]()
Posts:128
Hello, this question might have been asked and answered already but I had difficulties navigating all of the previous questions.
Would it be at all helpful to check blood levels of certain cancer markers parallel to therapy so as to detect resistance before it shows up much later on imaging ?
I know there is a big controversy and some docs do and others don't test.
Could you please tell me the pitfalls of this approach and why do some oncologists seem to monitor patients this way ?
I'm of course talking specifically about non small cell adeno EGRF pos of the lung.
Thanks for any answers
Kempten
Forums
Reply # - September 29, 2015, 10:42 AM
There are some types of
There are some types of cancer, prostate cancer is a good example, that have blood tests that show how much cancer is thought to be active in the body. Lung cancer blood tests (aka liquid biopsy) is becoming a promise of the not so distant future but the technology isn't there yet. We have blog posts and video on the subject.
Dr. West, "The question of whether and how to use blood tests, and particularly serum tumor markers, to monitor the status of a lung cancer has come up often here. There are a few places where we’ve covered this in text, but for those of you who would prefer a video format for your information gathering, here’s a podcast I just did on that subject for Swedish Medical Center." http://cancergrace.org/lung/2013/01/05/serum-tumor-markers-video/
"Dr. Jack West reviews new techniques for evaluating mutations from blood, including detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or mutations in circulating free DNA (cfDNA) that can replace at least some tissue biopsies". here, http://cancergrace.org/lung/2015/06/10/gcvl_lu-b10_liquid_biopsy_circul…
I hope these are helpful,
Janine
Reply # - September 29, 2015, 10:52 AM
I missed posting the most
I missed posting the most relivant to your question, the search result for liquid biopsy
"Liquid biopsies (also called serum testing) is a practice already approved in Europe for EGFR lung cancer patients. Drawing blood to test for acquired resistance is easier and quicker than needle biopsies. How long until it is standard practice in the US?"
The first post/video is the most recent, http://cancergrace.org/lung/tag/liquid-biopsy/
Reply # - September 29, 2015, 12:57 PM
Reply To: blood level monitoring of cancer markers ?????
Hi again,
Thank you for the informative video about liquid biopsies and circulating tumor markers.
I knew the technology existed for mostly research purposes here in the US, but was unaware that this new version of cancer testing was already approved in European countries.
What is holding this up for us here in the US ?
Are the European technics not sophisticated enough for our needs or what are the remaining obstacles?
Just curious,
thanks
Kempten
Reply # - September 30, 2015, 08:55 AM
Kempten,
Kempten,
As you can see I've merged your 2 threads to one. Since the second question is an obvious follow up of the first it makes sense to keep them together. As for forum rules about not asking lots of questions in one place, that's more for not exhausting our resources (read busy/time retrained doctors) plus it's good to keep subject matter separate so others can find answers to the questions already asked.
I have heard a panel of doctors speak to this on a video here on Grace though I can't think of where. My guess would be in one tagged "liquid biopsy" for which a search in Grace's search engine would pull up for you. The comment they made as I remember was more of a question like yours and not an answer. The UK health system has a good website that may have clues. But since this is a just curious question I hesitate to call in an oncologist to field it even though I've not got an answer either.
Keep up the learning.
Janine