Genomic Health Inc., a cancer diagnostics company, recently announced they are now marketing a genomic test for men diagnosed with prostate cancer that will provide better information on how likely it is that their prostate cancer is an aggressive form of the disease needing immediate treatment, or a slow-growing, low-risk form of prostate cancer that can safely be monitored over time for signs of progression. The new assay, Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Test, will potentially give tens of thousands of men increased confidence that they can safely forego aggressive treatment and instead enter a program of active surveillance, where their tumor is monitored over time, deferring surgery or radiation and potentially avoiding the sexual and/or bowel and bladder dysfunction side-effects that can result from those treatments. The new test—a 17-gene predictive “signature”, measures the amount of ribonucleic acid (RNA) expressed by these various genes, with some genes making large amounts of RNA and others making little. Seven separate studies by Genomic Health Inc., involving over 1,000 men diagnosed at biopsy with prostate cancer have shown that in men whose tumors turned out to be high-risk, those men tended to test positive for this 17-gene “signature.” The Oncotype DX Prostate Cancer Test currently costs about $3,800 and is not covered by insurances at this time. For further information, please see the following link.
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