Precision Medicine Tools in the Fight Against Cancer
Up to this point, it’s likely that you and your oncologist have made treatment decisions based on the standard treatment for your cancer type. The phrase “standard of care” or “standard treatment” is used to describe the most common and effective treatment option for your cancer based on several characteristics such as the body part where your cancer first appeared (e.g. the breast, colon, or lung), the location of any metastases, and its stage of progression.
While many patients do find effective treatments through the standard of care, it doesn’t work for everybody. This is especially true for patients with rare and/or aggressive cancers that are difficult to treat. For those patients, a more personalized approach, using tools like molecular profiling, is needed to guide therapy.
If you are a patient with a rare or aggressive cancer, you may find that standard or first-line treatment options aren’t working for you. Or perhaps there’s no standard treatment available for your particular cancer in the first place. Whatever your individual circumstances, molecular profiling has the potential to expand the range of treatment options available to you, based on the unique molecular make-up of your tumor.
Molecular profiling, a service also known as tumor profiling, can help you manage your rare or aggressive disease by giving your doctor very specific information about your tumor’s genetic composition and other biomarkers that constitute your cancer’s molecular “signature.” That signature is unique because no two people have exactly the same cancer; and because no two cancers should be treated in exactly the same way just because they affect the same body part or cell type. As an instrument of “personalized medicine,” molecular profiling can help your doctor individualize your disease management plan by tailoring your treatment to the specific biomarkers found in your cancer.
Please consult your physician to determine if Caris Molecular Intelligence® is right for you.
What is Rare or Aggressive Cancer?
When is Cancer Considered Rare? Overall, there are more than…