… Colorectal screening saves lives.
You’d think by now that this has been settled. After all, how many studies have been done on screening and its effect on detecting cancer? And screening doesn’t necessarily mean having colonoscopies. It could be as simple as having your stool checked for hidden blood or occult blood.
Yet another study, this time published in the most recent issue of Journal of the National Cancer Institute, says the same thing. According to researchers, a district in Italy experienced a 13% decline in colorectal cancer since establishing an occult blood screening program in the early 1980s.
You …read more

Early detection is the hallmark of increased survival of cancer, but the trick is to find how we can detect cancers in the early stages. Cervical cancer is one that can be caught quite early if women go for their regular Pap tests, which is designed to detect changes in the cells on the cervix. Pap smears can detect cells in their precancerous stages as well.
According to the American Cancer Society, over 11,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer this year. That means that they will have cancer that is no longer superficial. Although …read more

Pathwork Diagnostics, Inc. recently announced that its Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test for use in hard-to-identify-tumors has been cleared by the FDA.
The test analyzes a tumor’s gene expression pattern to help pinpoint the source of hard-to-identify tumors and is the first test of its kind to receive FDA clearance.
Up to an estimated 200,000 newly diagnosed cancer patients annually in the U.S. may have a tumor for which the site of origin is uncertain after the initial diagnostic workup.
The FDA’s clearance underscores the growing role that patients’ genomic information can play in helping physicians make better decisions.
Read the full press release …read more

Worldwide…stomach cancer is one of the most common and fatal cancers.
From Mayo Clinic:
“…two factors that play a major role in the development of stomach cancer — infection with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria and diet, especially the type of diet that’s high in salted, smoked and pickled foods common in areas that lack refrigeration as a means of preserving food.
Stomach cancer is more readily treated when caught early. Unfortunately, by the time stomach cancer causes symptoms, it’s often at an advanced stage and may have spread beyond the stomach. Yet there is encouraging news. You can reduce your risk …read more

According to a new report from the Center for the Advance of Health — breast self-exams do not appear to reduce breast cancer deaths.
Such were the findings that came out from a review of recent studies, thereby trumping the all-time advice to women to self examine their breasts on a regular basis to check for lumps. This report said that the practice has actually did more harm than good:
However, a review of recent studies says there is no evidence that self-exams actually reduce breast cancer deaths.
Instead, the practice may be doing more harm than good, since it led to almost …read more

The US FDA has recently approved a new genetic test for breast cancer: the SPOT-Light HER2 CISH kit.
This novel genetic test – a product of Invitrogen Corporation – determining whether patients with breast cancer are good candidates for treatment with the drug Herceptin (trastuzumab).
The SPOT-Light HER2 CISH kit is a test that measures the number of copies of the HER2 gene in tumor tissue. This gene regulates the growth of cancer cells.
A healthy breast cell has two copies of the HER2 gene, which sends a signal to cells, telling them when to grow, divide and make repairs.
Patients with breast cancer …read more

It is already known that ovarian cancer or cancer of the ovaries can be deadly. However, as long as the cancer is detected at the earliest possible time — the chances of responding well to treatment and survival are increased. But of course, that also applies to any other type of cancer.
The limiting factor always lies in the availability and access of patients to screening procedures. Not to mention the accuracy of the procedure itself.
Now, regarding the detection of ovarian cancer, The Washington Post reports:
U.S. researchers boosted the level of early-stage ovarian cancer detection by 20 percent through use of …read more

In a separate post, I already mentioned The Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test.
It is interesting to know that Stanford University School of Medicine is investigating an investigational study of the this genomics-based diagnostic test for hard-to-identify tumors — The Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test.
The new test uses advanced genomics-based technology to help physicians determine a tumor’s origin in order to optimize cancer-specific treatment.
The study will evaluate the test’s ability to impact diagnosis for cancer patients with hard-to-identify tumors, with test samples processed at the Stanford University School of Medicine’s laboratory.
According to Dr. Iris Schrijver, Director of Molecular Pathology at Stanford …read more

A product of Pathwork Diagnostics, The Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test is designed to increase diagnostic certainty for hard-to-identify tumors.
The Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test measures the expression of more than 1500 genes present in a tissue sample and generates the tumor’s gene expression profile. This profile is then compared to those of 15 known tissues, representing more than 60 morphologies. An objective, probability-based Similarity Score is provided for each of the 15 potential tissue types, enabling each tissue type to be ruled in or ruled out.
What do patients need to know about The Pathwork® Tissue of Origin Test?

This came to my attention a while back, but for some reason got buried in my inbox. So sorry Laura!
Two new oncology tests — classifying metastatic cancer and identifying patients with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer who are at high risk of recurrence as well as unlikely to respond favorably to standard adjuvant endocrine therapy — from AviaraDx, Inc. are now state-approved in New York.
The tests, based on proprietary AviaraDx molecular technologies, are New York state-approved and available through the company’s CAP-certified CLIA laboratory. Both can utilize small formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue samples easily available …read more