Faster Breast Cancer Diagnosis with This Test

Posted by Cancer Center at Wise Regional on November 29th, 2019

A recently discovered molecular test developed by a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center has proved there is a way to swiftly and definitivelydifferentiate between malignant and benign breast tumors.

The testidentifies chemical changes ingenes that are cancer prone and achieves outcomes in 5 hours, thus making diagnosis faster for women all over the world.

Development of the test

One cannot start treatment without a diagnosis. This is so especially in developing countries where the ratio of number of pathologists to patients is high. This means that there is need for more pathologists who can review breast cancer biopsies to serve a large population. A methylated DNA marker test was developed to differentiate between benign and malignant breast tumors.

The methylation marker-based test proved that there is a lot of potential in distinguishing cancerous tissue for faster evaluation of breast tumors. Many women in developing countries are not screened due to lack of screening equipment. This test solves this problem by ensuring an accurate, fast and cheap test to detect malignant tumors.

How it works

The process involves the collection of the mass in the breast with a very thin needle, after which this is put into cartridges, and placed into a machine that tests for gene methylation. Methylation differs in benign and malignant tumors. This is how differences are spotted. A pilot study was run using 73 samples of fine needle aspirates obtained from breast lumps of patients.

Test is simple and cost-effective

The test does not need any advanced training and is cost effective. It can reduce the work load for cancer specialists in hospitals. But this test supplements other tests that are performed to determine malignant and benign tumors.

Further studies need to be conducted to advance the value of this test which would help thousands of women in despair in hospitals, offering them life- saving treatments quickly.

About Author

North Texas Cancer Center at Wise, a division of Choice Cancer Care, is now operating as the Cancer Center at Wise Regional and is one of the most renowned cancer treatment centers in Texas.