Blood Tests More Effective than Imaging Scans in Detecting Recurring Lung Cancer 

Orange County, CA - April 17th 2017 -  Lung cancer claims the lives of nearly 160,000 people annually, and 433 people every day. According to the National Cancer Institute, more money was spent on care during the last year of life- approximately $5.5 billion- for lung cancer patients than any other cancer in 2015 alone. A new study from The Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is studying specific biomarkers in blood tests with ability to detect lung cancer recurrences at an average of 6 months before PET/CT scans. This recent study was presented at the 2017 Multidisciplinary Thoracic Cancers Symposium in San Diego.

The study is recommending that blood tests be used in combination with PET (position emission tomography)/CT (computed tomography) scans to guide personalized treatment planning for patients. Lung cancer is notorious for its aggressive nature and capacity to spread through the body and metastasize. The standard care for lung cancer is recurring observation through PET/CT scans to monitor tumor activity, however new blood tests provide less invasive tracking of elevated CTC (Circulating Tumor Cells) during regular follow-ups.

Lead author of the study, Chimbu Chinniah, says, “Earlier detection of recurrence may even translate into an increased likelihood of curing these patients when their tumor burden is lowest and thus more likely to respond to therapy.” Currently, only 16 percent of lung cancer patients are diagnosed in the early stages when it is most treatable.

Blood Tests More Effective than Imaging Scans in Detecting Recurring Lung Cancer

The study monitored 48 men and women ages 31 to 84 with stage II-III locally advanced NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer). All patients received the same treatment and had blood samples taken concurrently over a period of 24 months. At an 11 month follow-up, 46 percent of patients had recurring or progressive NSCLC, of the remaining an additional blood sample was taken from 20 infected patients. Of these 20 patients, 4 experienced recurrences that were identified via blood tests prior to any indication of the disease’s return by elevated CTC levels.

Charles B. Simone, II, M.D., is the study’s senior author and main investigator. He is also currently an associate professor of radiation oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and medical director of the Maryland Proton Treatment Center in Baltimore. Upon summation of the study, he says, "The future use of CTC as a diagnostic and prognostic tool for localized NSCLC looks promising. Although imaging remains the cornerstone of post-treatment surveillance for patients, blood tests could, and perhaps should, be used in conjunction with imaging scans to better monitor patients during their follow-up period after treatment.”

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Blood Tests More Effective than Imaging Scans in Detecting Recurring Lung Cancer  Orange County, CA – April 17th 2017 –  Lung cancer claims the lives of nearly 160,000 people annually, and 433 people every day. According to the National Cancer Institute, more money was spent on care during the last year of life- approximately $5.5 billion- […]