Latest Lab Tests discussions http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/cancer-diagnosis/lab-tests/1,0,124,96.htm Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ hello...my mother has low hemoglobin of 81...any advice on how to raise it? thanks http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,23796,0.htm Trish28 Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT recently I saw the doctor regarding discomfort in my left testicle. No lumps were present, and after telling him I had recently begun lifting weights, he told me it was probably epididymitis, and that I had forced urine into the epididimis from straining. To rule out cancer he had me get a blood test, and my AFP level was 1.4. He said this was elevated and that I need another test in 2 months. He also said the epididimytis could be responsible for the levels being what they are. So, is it time to panic or am I getting excited over nothing? The waiting has been tough, and I'd appreciate some other opinions. Thank you very much http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,23245,0.htm Steve27 Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT My father diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer 12 weeks ago started treatment combo of Tarceva and Gemc chemo and is on his 6th wk treatment.  He is having a difficult time with his treatment.  He is 74 with his weight declining to 130 pds, becoming weaker and many times to tired to get up out of bed, aswell as suffering all the side effects that come along with treatment.  Upon our last visit with the Doctor my father contiplated the choice of continuing with treatment or stopping for fear that it is not making a difference other then causing his last days here with us to be miserable and unbearable.  The doctor then reassured him that the treatment is working very effectively and that he should continues providing us with a blood test result called the CA-125 in which made a huge decrease from 6330.5 down to 1765.6.  We were happy seeing that this was a huge jump and a miracle.  Not understanding much about these numbers, I am now concerned that this was not as huge as we'd hoped or thought it to be. Trying to get more information on this, i've been reading on patients experiences in this count.  Many patients being concerned with their CA-125 number being 100 or even 57, not coming close to the thousands mark.  My fathers CA-125 is still standing at 1765.6 although dropping around 5000 points to 1765.6.  Did it go from extremely horrible to just horrible?  Is there a good chance that it will continue to drop in this extreme manner and is it possible to get down to 35?  Or will it pateu at the hundreds, being that it was so high to begin with.  Any information would be appreciated.  Some insight or experience would really help us to cope and understand.  Thank you for taking time to read my post and reply.  god bless http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,19734,0.htm DaddysGrl Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Hi I have terribly swollen gland, and was seen for some routine blood work to test for mono, and strep  The results for the mono and strep came back negative, but the Absolute Lymphocytes came back in the high range. 2.4  I am not sure what this is, or what this means can you give me any ideas. THanks http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,18974,0.htm karla1 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT My mom has Stage IV breast cancer, with a mass on her rib in front of her lung.  She had 3 rounds of chemo, Taxol the first two weeks and then Taxol and Avastin the third week.  She was to take one week off and start again.  When she went to her chemo treatment, her wbc was 80,000, so her dr did not do the chemo.  He didn't give much of an answer. She was admitted to the hospital this past Sunday, lethargic, not eating and very painful on her right side when she breathes.  She was admitted and her wbc was 100,000 on Sunday. Yesterday, she looked a little better.  She had to be catheterized because she didn't urinate all day.  She ate just a little better.  The infectious disease dr came in and said they are stumped.  Her wbc is now 135,000!  All she said is that they just don't know.  She also has a mass on her liver and spots on her lung.  She most likely said the cancer has spread.  They want to do a liver bx to see if it is cancer.  What else could it be!  She said the wbc's can't go much higher. Does anyone have any insight to this?  I just can't believe this is happening so fast.  She is 80 and yesterday, she just looked better.  I have been with her during the day and spend as much time with her.  I just don't want to get her tired.  I guess i will know more today.Any information would be appreciated. Thank You, Marcalla http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,16096,0.htm Georgiamom Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT My husband had a ct scan done four months ago that found several nodules on his lungs. The dr said this was fairly common but they wanted him to come back in four to six months to have another ct done. He did this the other day and he was told yesterday that the radiologist diagnosed the nodules as metastasized cancer cells. His dr disagrees with the diagnoses. He is going to see a pulmanary specialist on Monday.Part of the reason that the dr disagrees with the radiologist is that they did a blood test for other reasons back in April and there were no abnormalities. Would cancer definately show up on a blood test? Also, he had to convince his dr to do more blood tests yesterday. He didn't ask the dr how soon we would get the results. Does anyone know how long that usually takes? Thanks so much. I'm so scared. My husband is only 36 and we have a 3 month old baby. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,15949,0.htm jg1982 Fri, 07 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT We have developed a test to determine if cancer patients can metabolize 5-FU BEFORE it is adminstered.  Roughly 30% of patients cannot, leading to ICU stays and even death.This is a urine test and takes 48-72 hours from date of receipt to results.  We are beginning to market this test and it is FDA allowed.Coventrydiagnostics.com    westernslopelabs.com    Thom M.--Message edited by CancerCompass staff. For personal protection, phone number removed. Consider private reply. Please review CancerCompass Member Guidelines at http://www.cancercompass.com/common/guidelines.html-- http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,15308,0.htm Coventry Diagnostics Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT Hello, From a biopsy I have been diagnosed with adenocarcinoma in the colon.  I had surgery to remove it and at that time it was found that 4 of 21 lymoh nodes were infected.   However, prior to surgery, my CT scan just showed a 3.5 cm mass and no lymph involvement, my PET scan didnt show anything at all, and my CEA blood test came back 0.5, well within normal. Is that normal for these scans to come back like this, and if so, how can anyone tell if you are really cancer free when they look at these? thanks Traveler001     http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,14577,0.htm Traveler001 Sat, 21 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT A microvascular viability assay for anti-angiogenesis-related drugs<p>Angiogenesis is essential for the growth and metastasis (spread) of cancer. A growing tumor requires nutrients and oxygen, which helps it grow, invade nearby tissue, and metastasize. To reach these nutrients, the tumor builds new blood vessels. In fact, growing tumors can become inactive if they can't find a new supply of nutrients.<p>Angiogenesis starts when cancer cells produce a variety of growth factors and other activators (biologic molecules that begin a process). Growth factors cause endothelial cells (the cells that line blood vessels) to produce chemicals that break down the nearby tissue and the extracellular matrix (the spaces between cells). Then, the endothelial cells divide into more cells and begin building new blood vessels. Other elements, such as stromal cells (cells that form connective tissue), provide structural support for the new blood vessels.<p>Because angiogenesis is necessary in the growth and spread of cancer, each part of the angiogenesis process is a potential target for new cancer therapies. The assumption is that if a drug can stop the tumor from receiving the supply of nutrients, the tumor will "starve" and die.<p>Anti-angiogenesis drugs work by blocking the activity of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to prevent the growth of new capillaries into the tumor and thereby sustain tumor growth. In addition to VEGF, researchers have identified a dozen other activators of angiogenesis, some of which are similar to VEGF.<p>VEGF causes angiogenesis by attaching to special receptors (proteins on the outside of cancer cells that act like doorways), and this action starts a series of chemical reactons inside the cell. Because VEGF is so important to angiogenesis, it is a target of new cancer treatments.<p>Since tumor growth is dependent on angiogenesis, and angiogenesis is dependent on VEGF, a drug like Avastin directly binds to VEGF to directly inhibit angiogenesis. Within 24 hours of VEGF inhibition, endothelial cells have been shown to shrivel, retract, fragment and die by apoptosis. Tumors which secrete relatively low levels of VEGF might be more susceptible to an agent like Avastin which works by blocking VEGF (Avastin "sensitive" tumors). It potently inhibits the formation of new blood vessels.<p>Vatalanib (PTK/ZK) is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor with broad specificity that targets all VEGF receptors (VEGFR), the platelet-derived growth factor receptor, and c-KIT. It is a multi-VEGFR inhibitor designed to block angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis by binding the intracellular kinase domain of all three VEGFRs, VEGFR-1 (Flt-1), VEGFR-2 (KDR/Flk-1), and VEGFR-3 (Flt-4). Vatalanib is a targeted drug that inhibits the activity of all known receptors that bind VEGF. The drug potently inhibits the formation of new blood vessels (angiogenesis).<p>In some cases, these and other drugs, kill tumor cells without killing microvascular cells in the same time frame. In other cases they kill microvascular cells without killing tumor cells. In yet other cases they kill both types of cells or neither type of cells. The ability of these agents to kill tumor and/or microvascular cells in the same tumor specimen is highly variable among the different agents.<p>A major modification of the DISC (cell death) assay allows for the study of anti-microvascular drug effects of standard and targeted agents, such as Avastin, Nexavar and vatalanib. The Microvascularity Viability Assay is based upon the principle that microvascular (endothelial and associated) cells are present in tumor cell microclusters obtained from solid tumor specimens. The assay which has a morphological endpoint, allows for visualization of both tumor and microvascular cells and direct assessment of both anti-tumor and anti-microvascular drug effect. CD31 cytoplasmic staining confirms morphological identification of microcapillary cells in a tumor microcluster.<p>The principles and methods used in the Microvascularity Viability Assay include: 1. Obtaining a tissue, blood, bone marrow or malignant fluid specimen from an individual cancer patient. 2. Exposing viable tumor cells to anti-neoplastic drugs. 3. Measuring absolute in vitro drug effect. 4. Finding a statistical comparision of in vitro drug effect to an index standard, yielding an individualized pattern of relative drug activity. 5. Information obtained is used to aid in selecting from among otherwise qualified candidate drugs.<p>It is the only assay which involves direct visualization of the cancer cells at endpoint, allowing for accurate assessment of drug activity, discriminating tumor from non-tumor cells, and providing a permanent archival record, which improves quality, serves as control, and assesses dose response in vitro.<p>Photomicrographs (below) of the assay can show that some clones of tumor cells don't accumulate the drug. These cells won't get killed by it. The Assay measures the net effect of everything which goes on (Whole Cell Profiling methodology). Are the cells ultimately killed, or aren't they?<p>This kind of technique exists today and might be very valuable, especially when active chemoagents are limited in a particular disease, giving more credence to testing the tumor first. After all, cutting-edge techniques can often provide superior results over tried-and true methods that have been around for many years.<p>Source: Eur J Clin Invest, Volume 37(suppl. 1):60, April 2007http://weisenthal.org/slide.057.jpg http://weisenthal.org/slide.058.jpg http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,13992,0.htm Gdpawel Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT A new laboratory test that identifies patients who benefit most from targeted cancer drugs was introduced at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) as the test's accuracy is sure to save hundreds of lives per year. This could help solve the problem of knowing which patients can tolerate costly, new treatments and their harmful side-effects. The "smart" drugs do not work for everyone, and a test to determine the efficacy of these drugs in a patient could be the first crucial step in personalizing treatment to the individual.<p>According to Chemical & Engineering News, targeted "small-molecule" therapies ruled at the annual ASCO meeting of oncologists. The most exciting results shown came from studies of multitargeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors, small molecules that act on multiple receptors in the cancerous cells, like Tykerb and Sutent. The trend is away from the monoclonals to the small molecules, a trend which the new EGFRx™ Assay may be able to hasten.<p>The EGFRx™ Assay will test molecularly-targeted anti-cancer drugs therapies Iressa, Tarceva, Sutent and Nexavar, because of being small molecules. The monoclonal antibodies like Herceptin and Erbitux are "enormous" molecules. These very large molecules don't have a convenient way of getting access to the large majority of cells. Plus, there is multicellular resistance, the drugs affecting only the cells on the outside may not kill these cells if they are in contact with cells on the inside, which are protected from the drug. The cells may pass small molecules back and forth.<p>However, drugs like Avastin (although a monoclonal antibody) can be tested with the EGFRx™ Assay because the target of Avastin is not the cells themselves, but rather a hormone (VEGF) secreted by the tumor cells. The Avastin complexes with free VEGF and blocks its action. The EGFRx™ Assay can discriminate between the activity of different targeted drugs and identify situations in which it is advantageous to combine the targeted drugs with other types of cancer drugs. All the more reason to "test the tumor first."<p>Most patients are treated not with a targeted therapy drug alone but with a combination of chemotherapy drugs. Therefore, existing DNA and RNA tests do not reflect the way cancer medicine is practiced today. The EGFRx™ Assay, developed by The Weisenthal Cancer Group relies upon a technique known as "Whole Cell Profiling" in which living tumour cells are removed from an individual cancer patient and exposed in the laboratory to the new drugs.<p>A variety of metabolic and apoptotic measurements are then used to determine if a specific drug was successful at killing the patient's cancer cells. The whole cell profiling method differs from other tests in that it assesses the activity of a drug upon combined effect of all cellular processes, using several metabolic (cell metabolism) and morphologic (structure) endpoints, at the cell "population" level (measuring the interaction of the entire genome), rather than at the "single cell" level. Other tests, such as those which identify DNA or RNA sequences or expression of individual proteins often examine only one component of a much larger, interactive process.<p>Over the past few years, researchers have put enormous efforts into genetic profiling as a way of predicting patient response to targeted therapies. However, no gene-based test can discriminate differing levels of anti-tumor activity occurring among different targeted therapy drugs. Nor can an available gene-based test identify situations in which it is advantageous to combine a targeted drug with other types of conventional cancer drugs. So far, only Whole Cell Profiling has demonstrated this critical ability.<p>Not only is this an important predictive test that is available "today," but it is also a unique tool that can help to identify newer and better drugs, evaluate promising drug combinations, and serve as a "gold standard" correlative model with which to develop new DNA, RNA, and protein-based tests that better predict for drug activity.<p>These "targeting" drugs are expensive, costing patients and insurance carriers $5,000 to $7,000 or more per month of treatment. Patients, physicians, insurance carriers, and the FDA are all calling for the discovery of predictive tests that allow for rational and cost-effective use of these drugs.<p>The Whole Cell Profiling approach, holds the key to solving some of the problems confronting a healthcare system that is seeking ways to best allocate available resources while accomplishing the critical task of matching individual patients with the treatments most likely to benefit them.<p>Source:<p>http://weisenthal.org/ex_targeted_egfr_kinase.pdf http://weisenthal.org/slide.057.jpg http://weisenthal.org/slide.058.jpg http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,13990,0.htm Gdpawel Mon, 02 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT My 28 year old niece had appendix cancer that never had shown a tumor marker in her blood work.  She had finished chemo the end of last year and just finished avastin.  Her CEA marker showed elevated as it has never done this even when she had the cancer-prior to successful surgery and chemo and avastin.  Any suggestion/ info as to why elevated now? (Had googled this and found there could be various reasons.) CT scan shows stable and now they want her to have PET scan.  Does anyone have a suggestion?  Please help as desperate to find benign reasons.Thank you ever so much.  http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,13873,0.htm Gemini2 Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:00:00 GMT Hello, I hope someone is out there...I had labs drawn which included an elevated CA-125 of 42.4 I know the range should be between 0-35....is this significantly high? I ran (literally) to my primary doctor and he just ran another level on me yesterday and I am waiting for phone call for the results. I requested a vaginal ultrasound....is there anything else I can do? How worried should I be? Thanks for listening. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,4444,0.htm Sandiw Fri, 10 Feb 2006 00:00:00 GMT Well, my husbands PET scan came back and now it has spread to his spleen, his bones, his rib, his liver, and his adreanal gland cancer is growing. They are changing his chemo treatment to a more aggresive one but I can help but wonder if this is going to work. They told us that we would have to wait and see if this one works. It just seems as though his cancer is getting worse and spreading all over the place. 10 weeks ago, it was not in any of these new places and now look where it has gone in such a short time span. Is there any hope of him getting better or is it just going to continue to spread? Can they stop it in his bone? I didn't think they could but I am not sure. Does anyone have any information on what is to be expected? I am just so confused because he seemed as though he was doing really good. He had a little pain in his hip but we just thought that was due to the chemo. I fear his time is now limited and I am scared. Can anyone give me an idea of what is next? laura http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,2772,0.htm Laurap Fri, 19 Aug 2005 00:00:00 GMT When a patient has an infection, doctors often send a sample of infected blood or tissue to a lab where they can grow the bacteria and see which antibiotics are most effective (called Bacterial Culture and Sensitivity Testing). Chemosensitivity testing is an attempt to do something similar for cancer; fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. It is highly desirable to know what drugs are effective against your particular cancer cells before highly-toxic agents are systemically administered to your body. One approach to individualizing patient therapy is chemosensitivity testing. Chemosensitivity assay is a laboratory test that determines how effective specific chemotherapy agents are against an individual patient's cancer cells. Often, results are obtained before the patient begins treatment. This kind of testing can assist in individualizing cancer therapy by providing information about the likely response of an individual patient's tumor to proposed therapy. Chemosensitivity testing may have utility at the time of initial therapy, and in instances of severe drug hypersensitivity, failed therapy, recurrent disease, and metastatic disease, by providing assistance in selecting optimal chemotherapy regimens. All available chemosensitivity assays are able to report drug 'resistance' information. Resistance implies that when a patient's cancer cells are exposed to a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, the cancer cells will continue to live and grow. Some chemosensitivity assays also are able to report drug 'sensitivity' information. Sensitivity implies that when a patient's cancer cells are treated with a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, that agent will kill the cancer cells or inhibit their proliferation. The goal of all chemosensitivity tests is to determine the response of a patient's cancer cells to proposed chemotherapy agents. Knowing which chemotherapy agents the patient's cancer cells are resistant to is important. Then, these options can be eliminated, thereby avoiding the toxicity of ineffective agents. In addition, some chemosensitivity assays predict tumor cell sensitivity, or which agent would be most effective. Choosing the most effective agent can help patients to avoid the physical, emotional, and financial costs of failed therapy and experience an increased quality of life. Fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. Chemosensitivity testing does have predictive value, especially in predicting what 'won't' work. Patients who have been through several chemotherapy regimens and are running out of options might want to consider chemosensitivity testing. It might help you find the best option or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Today, chemosensitivity testing has progressed to the point where it is 85% - 90% effective. Chemosensitivity testing might help you find the best option, or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Another situation where chemosensitivity testing might make particularly good sense is in rare cancers where there may not be enough experience or previous ideas of which drugs might be most effective. Finally, there has been a veritable deluge of new approvals of cytotoxic drugs in recent years as the tortuous FDA process has been speeded and liberalized. In many cases a new drug has been approved on the basis of a single very very narrow indication. But these drugs may have many useful applications - and it's going to take years to find out. Chemosensitivity testing offers a way of seeing if any of these new drugs might apply to your specific cancer. Cell Culture Drug Resistance Testing (Chemotherapy Sensitivity and Resistance Assays) refers to laboratory testing of a patient's own cancer cells with drugs that may be used to treat the patient's cancer. A group of lab tests known as human tumor assay systems (HTAS) can aid oncologists in deciding which chemotherapies work best in battling an individual patient's form of cancer. The assay is a lab test performed on a biopsy specimen containing living cancer cells. It's used to determine the sensitivity or resistance of malignant cells to individual chemotherapy agents. Depending on how well the tumor cells respond to each chemotherapy agent, they are rated as sensitive, resistant or intermediate to chemotherapy. The concept is that you are better off using a chemotherapy drug that your tumor reacts to strongly than one your tumor resists. There have been over 40 publications in peer-reviewed medical literature showing correlations between cell-death assay test results and the results of clinical chemotherapy in more than 2,000 patients. In every single study, patients treated with drugs active in the assays had a higher response rate than the entire group of patients as a whole. In every single study, patients treated with drugs inactive in the assays had lower response rates than the entire group of patients. In every single study, patients treated with active drugs were much more likely to respond than patients treated with inactive drugs, with assay-active drugs being 7 to 9 times more likely to work than assay-inactive drugs. A large number of peer-review publications also reported that patients treated with assay-tested 'active' drugs enjoyed significantly longer survival of cancer than patients with assay-tested 'negative' drugs. Listing of 'Reputable' Labs USA: These labs will provide you and your physician with in depth information and research on the testing they provide. Analytical Biosystems, Inc., Providence, Rhode Island. Ken Blackman, PhD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-800-262-6520 Anticancer, Inc., San Diego, CA. Robert Hoffman, PhD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-619-654-2555 Impath, Inc., New York, NY. David Kern, MD Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-800-447-8881 Oncotech, Inc., Irvine, CA. John Fruehauf, MD. Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-714-474-9262 / FAX 1-714-474-8147 Sylvester Cancer Institute, Miami, FL. Bernd-Uwe Sevin, MD. Solid Tumors Only. (especially GYN). 1-305-547-6875 Human Tumor Cloning Laboratory, San Antonio, TX. Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-210-677-3827 Oncovation LLC, New York, N.Y. Howard Bruckner, M.D. Solid Tumors Only. 1-212-514-2422 Rational Therapeutics Institute, Long Beach, CA. Robert A. Nagourney, MD Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-562-989-6455 DiaTech Oncology, Brentwood, TN. Vladimir D. Kravtsov, MD, PhD Medical Director 1-615-294-9033 Weisenthal Cancer Group, Huntington Beach, CA. Larry M. Weisenthal, MD, PhD. Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-714-894-0011 / FAX 1-714-893-3659 How May a Patient Arrange to Have Their Tumor or Leukemia Tested? Both fluid and solid tumor specimens may be sent out via Federal Express or another overnight courier service for testing at one of more than a dozen labs around the country. Note that the choice of a lab is not a geographical consideration, but a technical consideration. All of the labs that I listed above are experienced and capable of providing very useful information. However, the labs vary considerably with regard to technologies, approach to testing, what they try to achieve with the testing, and cost. By investing a little time on the phone speaking with the lab directors, you should have enough knowledge to present the concept to the patient's own physician. At that point, the best thing is to ask the physician, as a courtesy to the patient, to speak on the phone with the director of the laboratory in which you are interested, so that everyone (patient, physician, and laboratory director) understand what is being considered, what is the rationale, and what are the data which support what is being considered. Some Resistance The fact that some doctors don't agree isn't stopping many cancer patients from taking this matter into their own hands, and sending their live path specimens off to one of the above private labs for assay-testing to be done. There has been much discussion about whether assay (in vitro) tests are of any use, as the in vivo response to a drug may very well be different in the body than in the petri dish. But, they said the same for Bacterial Culture and Sensitivity Testing. Doctors cannot remember a time when they didn't have this technology. It is a 'gold' standard. So will Chemosensitivity Testing. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,1540,0.htm Gdpawel Thu, 03 Feb 2005 00:00:00 GMT When a patient has an infection, doctors often send a sample of infected blood or tissue to a lab where they can grow the bacteria and see which antibiotics are most effective (called Bacterial Culture and Sensitivity Testing). Chemosensitivity testing is an attempt to do something similar for cancer; fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. It is highly desirable to know what drugs are effective against your particular cancer cells before highly-toxic agents are systemically administered to your body. One approach to individualizing patient therapy is chemosensitivity testing. Chemosensitivity assay is a laboratory test that determines how effective specific chemotherapy agents are against an individual patient's cancer cells. Often, results are obtained before the patient begins treatment. This kind of testing can assist in individualizing cancer therapy by providing information about the likely response of an individual patient's tumor to proposed therapy. Chemosensitivity testing may have utility at the time of initial therapy, and in instances of severe drug hypersensitivity, failed therapy, recurrent disease, and metastatic disease, by providing assistance in selecting optimal chemotherapy regimens. All available chemosensitivity assays are able to report drug "resistance" information. Resistance implies that when a patient's cancer cells are exposed to a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, the cancer cells will continue to live and grow. Some chemosensitivity assays also are able to report drug "sensitivity" information. Sensitivity implies that when a patient's cancer cells are treated with a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, that agent will kill the cancer cells or inhibit their proliferation. The goal of all chemosensitivity tests is to determine the response of a patient's cancer cells to proposed chemotherapy agents. Knowing which chemotherapy agents the patient's cancer cells are resistant to is important. Then, these options can be eliminated, thereby avoiding the toxicity of ineffective agents. In addition, some chemosensitivity assays predict tumor cell sensitivity, or which agent would be most effective. Choosing the most effective agent can help patients to avoid the physical, emotional, and financial costs of failed therapy and experience an increased quality of life. Fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. Chemosensitivity testing does have predictive value, especially in predicting what "won't" work. Patients who have been through several chemotherapy regimens and are running out of options might want to consider chemosensitivity testing. It might help you find the best option or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Today, chemosensitivity testing has progressed to the point where it is 85% - 90% effective. Chemosensitivity testing might help you find the best option, or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Another situation where chemosensitivity testing might make particularly good sense is in rare cancers where there may not be enough experience or previous ideas of which drugs might be most effective. Finally, there has been a veritable deluge of new approvals of cytotoxic drugs in recent years as the tortuous FDA process has been speeded and liberalized. In many cases a new drug has been approved on the basis of a single very very narrow indication. But these drugs may have many useful applications - and it's going to take years to find out. Chemosensitivity testing offers a way of seeing if any of these new drugs might apply to your specific cancer. Another Name Cell Culture Drug Resistance Testing (Chemotherapy Sensitivity and Resistance Assays) refers to laboratory testing of a patient's own cancer cells with drugs that may be used to treat the patient's cancer. A group of lab tests known as human tumor assay systems (HTAS) can aid oncologists in deciding which chemotherapies work best in battling an individual patient's form of cancer. The assay is a lab test performed on a biopsy specimen containing living cancer cells. It's used to determine the sensitivity or resistance of malignant cells to individual chemotherapy agents. Depending on how well the tumor cells respond to each chemotherapy agent, they are rated as sensitive, resistant or intermediate to chemotherapy. The concept is that you are better off using a chemotherapy drug that your tumor reacts to strongly than one your tumor resists. There have been over 40 publications in peer-reviewed medical literature showing correlations between cell-death assay test results and the results of clinical chemotherapy in more than 2,000 patients. In every single study, patients treated with drugs active in the assays had a higher response rate than the entire group of patients as a whole. In every single study, patients treated with drugs inactive in the assays had lower response rates than the entire group of patients. In every single study, patients treated with active drugs were much more likely to respond than patients treated with inactive drugs, with assay-active drugs being 7 to 9 times more likely to work than assay-inactive drugs. A large number of peer-review publications also reported that patients treated with assay-tested "active" drugs enjoyed significantly longer survival of cancer than patients with assay-tested "negative" drugs. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,1414,0.htm Gdpawel Sun, 05 Dec 2004 00:00:00 GMT When a patient has an infection, doctors often send a sample of infected blood or tissue to a lab where they can grow the bacteria and see which antibiotics are most effective. Chemosensitivity testing is an attempt to do something similar for cancer; fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. It is highly desirable to know what drugs are effective against your particular cancer cells before highly-toxic agents are systemically administered to your body. One approach to individualizing patient therapy is chemosensitivity testing. Chemosensitivity assay is a laboratory test that determines how effective specific chemotherapy agents are against an individual patient's cancer cells. Often, results are obtained before the patient begins treatment. This kind of testing can assist in individualizing cancer therapy by providing information about the likely response of an individual patient's tumor to proposed therapy. Chemosensitivity testing may have utility at the time of initial therapy, and in instances of severe drug hypersensitivity, failed therapy, recurrent disease, and metastatic disease, by providing assistance in selecting optimal chemotherapy regimens. All available chemosensitivity assays are able to report drug "resistance" information. Resistance implies that when a patient's cancer cells are exposed to a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, the cancer cells will continue to live and grow. Some chemosensitivity assays also are able to report drug "sensitivity" information. Sensitivity implies that when a patient's cancer cells are treated with a particular chemotherapy agent in the laboratory, that agent will kill the cancer cells or inhibit their proliferation. The goal of all chemosensitivity tests is to determine the response of a patient's cancer cells to proposed chemotherapy agents. Knowing which chemotherapy agents the patient's cancer cells are resistant to is important. Then, these options can be eliminated, thereby avoiding the toxicity of ineffective agents. In addition, some chemosensitivity assays predict tumor cell sensitivity, or which agent would be most effective. Choosing the most effective agent can help patients to avoid the physical, emotional, and financial costs of failed therapy and experience an increased quality of life. Fresh samples of the patient's tumor from surgery or a biopsy are grown in test tubes and tested with various drugs. Drugs that are most effective in killing the cultured cells are recommended for treatment. Chemosensitivity testing does have predictive value, especially in predicting what "won't" work. Patients who have been through several chemotherapy regimens and are running out of options might want to consider chemosensitivity testing. It might help you find the best option or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Today, chemosensitivity testing has progressed to the point where it is 85% - 90% effective. Chemosensitivity testing might help you find the best option, or save you from fruitless additional treatment. Another situation where chemosensitivity testing might make particularly good sense is in rare cancers where there may not be enough experience or previous ideas of which drugs might be most effective. Finally, there has been a veritable deluge of new approvals of cytotoxic drugs in recent years as the tortuous FDA process has been speeded and liberalized. In many cases a new drug has been approved on the basis of a single very very narrow indication. But these drugs may have many useful applications - and it's going to take years to find out. Chemosensitivity testing offers a way of seeing if any of these new drugs might apply to your specific cancer. Another Name Cell Culture Drug Resistance Testing refers to laboratory testing of a patient's own cancer cells with drugs that may be used to treat the patient's cancer. A group of lab tests known as human tumor assay systems (HTAS) can aid oncologists in deciding which chemotherapies work best in battling an individual patient's form of cancer. The assay is a lab test performed on a biopsy specimen containing living cancer cells. It's used to determine the sensitivity or resistance of malignant cells to individual chemotherapy agents. Depending on how well the tumor cells respond to each chemotherapy agent, they are rated as sensitive, resistant or intermediate to chemotherapy. The concept is that you are better off using a chemotherapy drug that your tumor reacts to strongly than one your tumor resists. There have been over 40 publications in peer-reviewed medical literature showing correlations between cell-death assay test results and the results of clinical chemotherapy in more than 2,000 patients. In every single study, patients treated with drugs active in the assays had a higher response rate than the entire group of patients as a whole. In every single study, patients treated with drugs inactive in the assays had lower response rates than the entire group of patients. In every single study, patients treated with active drugs were much more likely to respond than patients treated with inactive drugs, with assay-active drugs being 7 to 9 times more likely to work than assay-inactive drugs. A large number of peer-review publications also reported that patients treated with assay-tested "active" drugs enjoyed significantly longer survival of cancer than patients with assay-tested "negative" drugs. Listing of "Reputable" Labs USA: These labs will provide you and your physician with in depth information and research on the testing they provide. Analytical Biosystems, Inc., Providence, Rhode Island. Ken Blackman, PhD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-800-262-6520 Anticancer, Inc., San Diego, CA. Robert Hoffman, PhD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-619-654-2555 Impath, Inc., New York, NY. David Kern, MD Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-800-447-8881 Oncotech, Inc., Irvine, CA. John Fruehauf, MD. Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-714-474-9262 / FAX 1-714-474-8147 Sylvester Cancer Institute, Miami, FL. Bernd-Uwe Sevin, MD. Solid Tumors Only. (especially GYN). 1-305-547-6875 Human Tumor Cloning Laboratory, San Antonio, TX. Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD. Solid Tumors Only. 1-210-677-3827 Rational Therapeutics Institute, Long Beach, CA. Robert A. Nagourney, MD Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 562-989-6455 http://www.rational-t.com/ DiaTech Oncology, Brentwood, TN. Vladimir D. Kravtsov, MD, PhD Medical Director 1-615-294-9033 Weisenthal Cancer Group, Huntington Beach, CA. Larry M. Weisenthal, MD, PhD. Solid Tumors and Hematologics. 1-714-894-0011 / FAX 1-714-893-3659 / e-mail: mail@weisenthal.org http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,1340,0.htm Gdpawel Wed, 13 Oct 2004 00:00:00 GMT Could some of you veterans of ovarian cancer enlighten me about how accurate the CA-125 is? Will factors other than the return of cancer make the count go up? I had stage 3C ovarian diagnosed in July '02; had surgery, 6 rounds of chemo, then in the spring/summer of '03, the count started to go up. CT scan in August '03 did not show any cancer activity, though the count was in the high 20's. It rose slowly over the next few months to 37 in November; latest one just done on 1/20/04 is at 70. Meanwhile,in the past several months I have been experiencing multiple painful lipomas growing in various parts of the body at a rapid rate & will be checking them out with a specialist. I want to convince my cancer Dr. to do a PET scan. Is this appropriate? Thanks, Andrea http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,924,0.htm Andrea F. Sat, 24 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT My mom was diagnosed with Primary Peritoneal Carcinoma last march. I am having a very difficult time finding information on this type of cancer. Her doctor tells us it behaves and is treated the same as ovarian cancer. She is getting ready to have her 6th chemotherapy treatment and I am worried because her ca-125 was originally 2938 and after she had surgery and 5 chemo treatments her ca-125 was down to 91 and all of a sudden it is now up to 111. Does anyone have any information on my mom's cancer or what this ca-125 going up may mean? Deb H., MN http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,398,0.htm Deborah R. Thu, 21 Aug 2003 00:00:00 GMT I had a sentinel node biopsy done and wondered if you need to avoid blood pressure and needle sticks in that arm. My doctor never mentioned the possiblity of a sentinel node biopsy prior to surgery, so I was taken by suprised when I woke up and did not think to ask right after surgery. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,377,0.htm Amy C. Wed, 30 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT Hello, I had been diagnosed with stage 3-C ovarian cancer July '02. After a hysterectomy & 6 rounds of chemo, my cancer marker (CA-125) decreased from 285 to 39, then by increments to a low of 10 6 months ago. However, the last two tests taken in April and on 6/2/03 had it rising to 13, then 17. Is this a sign that the cancer is trying to come back? The nurse called & they want to do another test in one month. She did not elaborate on the possible reasons for the fluctuation. Anyone else out there with a similar situation, but the rise was not due to recurrence of cancer? Thanks, Andrea http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,351,0.htm Andrea F. Wed, 04 Jun 2003 00:00:00 GMT I am a 43 year old women diagnosed with stage II colon cancer. My CEA level before surgery was 2.0 and the same after surgery. Since starting chemo (5-fu) my CEA levels have been rising. They are currently 9.5. My doctor said that the chemo can cause the rise. Has anyone else had this experience? Even though he says it is okay I am kinda scared by the rise. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,481,0.htm Cindy C. Wed, 20 Nov 2002 00:00:00 GMT