Latest Testing and Technology
Coping with the treatment for metastatic breast, colorectal or prostate cancer is hard enough. But having to wait precious months to see how the disease is progressing can be even more difficult.
Fortunately now there's a simple blood test that can help you and your doctor learn your prognosis sooner. It's called the CellSearch Circulating Tumor Cell (CTC) Test from Veridex. The CellSearch CTC Test allows your doctor to check your prognosis at any time during your treatment.
In combination with all the other important parts of your therapy, the CellSearch CTC Test can help your doctor make more informed decisions about your care.
We invite you to explore this site to learn more about this innovative test. Then talk to your doctor to see if the CellSearch CTC Test.
PET and CT Imaging
Positron emission tomography (PET) and computerized tomography (CT) are both state-of-the-art imaging tools that allow physicians to pinpoint the location of cancer within the body before making treatment recommendations. The highly sensitive PET scan images the biology of disorders at the molecular level, while the CT scan provides a detailed picture of the body's internal anatomy. The PET/CT scan combines the strengths of these two well-established imaging modalities inot a single scan.
A CT scan is able to detect and localize changes in the body structure r anatomy, such as the size, shape and exact location of an abonormal growht, a sizeable tuomor or a musculoskeletal injury.
A PET scan is very different from an ultrasound, X-ray, MRI, or CT scan. A PET scan allows the physician to distinguish between living and dead tissue or between benign and malignant disorders. Since a PET scan images the biology of disorders at the molecular level, it can help the physician detect abnormalities in cellular activity at a very early stage, generally before anatomic changes are visible.
Alone, each imaging test has particular benefits and limitations but by combining these two state-of-the-art technologies, physicians can more accurately diagnose, localize and monitor cancer, as well as heart disease and certain brain disorders.