Tagged with “circulating tumor cells”
ArchivesCirculating Tumor Cells Provide Information about Prognosis
The number of cancer tumor cells circulating in the bloodstream can provide information about prognosis and survival for people with metastatic colorectal cancer. Measuring circulating tumor cells before beginning a treatment and then during treatment can help doctors decide if the therapy is working or whether cancer is getting worse.
Tumor cells can be found in the blood of cancer patients, but are very rare in healthy people. Using a technique that identifies and magnetically separates circulating tumor cells, researchers were able to measure the number of circulating cells in a standard amount of blood. They measured circulating tumor cells before treatment began and again several times during treatment. Continue reading…
Posted by Kate Murphy on July 15th, 2008
Posted in: Research & Treatment News | 2 Comments »
Tags: circulating tumor cells, survival
