Circulating Tumor Cell Tests in Carmel, IN

CTC’s have clinical uses:

• in risk stratification
• in early detection and diagnosis of various cancers
• in early detection of relapse/ recurrence
• in monitoring the response to treatment.
• in evaluation of treatment efficacy?

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) have been found in patients with various forms of metastatic carcinomas. CTCs are cancer cells that originated from solid tumors dispersed in the peripheral blood. It is generally explained that these cells are detached from the primary or secondary tumors of patients with advanced cancer prior to detection in the blood circulation. CTCs number is considered very less, with an estimated number of one in 100 million to one in a billion blood cells.

Scientists have discovered a test that can revolutionize the way doctors evaluate and treat a cancer patient. This technology involves the detection and genetic assay of circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream. Understanding circulating tumor cells is critically important, since it is the spread of cancer to other parts of the body—and not the primary cancer—that is often responsible for the death of a person with cancer.

The basic circulating tumor cell (CTC) tests will provide important data as it relates to how an individual’s cancer is treated. Health and Wellness of Carmel Cancer Center detects early signs of developing cancer by monitoring of existing cancer. A more advanced test of the CTC test is also available by providing one’s blood to a laboratory we work with, where a genetic analysis is performed to identify the expression of therapeutic targets, drug sensitivity (Chemosensitivity) and chemo-resistance markers unique to an individual’s circulating tumor cells leading to personalized cancer treatment.

• Doctors and scientists have identified a test that promises to revolutionize the evaluation and treatment of cancer.
• By detecting the number of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in the bloodstream, doctors can gain important information about a patient’s prognosis, which can be used to guide treatment decisions.
• Greater numbers of CTC in the blood have been linked with increased risk of metastasis as well as poorer prognosis and survival.
• CTC assays may offer higher predictive value than many commonly utilized tests such as measurements of hormone receptor status, CA 27.29, and imaging studies.
• Monitoring CTC levels may also provide valuable information about the efficacy of treatment and the risk of recurrence.