Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute (FCS) in the US has introduced liquid biopsy, a blood test that rapidly identifies cancerous tumours and circulating cells in the bloodstream.
This test may be used to evaluate colorectal, lung, prostate, breast, and blood cancers.
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Liquid biopsy represents an advancement in cancer diagnosis and treatment, utilising a simple draw of blood to test for circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA).
The introduction of liquid biopsy at FCS underscores the practice’s focus on expanding its comprehensive genomic testing offerings, thereby improving diagnostic accuracy, guiding physicians in treatment decisions, and the patients’ clinical outcomes.
FCS claims to have broadened its testing options for the 250 physicians serving more than 102,000 individuals across Florida, since the introduction of next-generation sequencing (NGS) offerings at its centralised in-house laboratory in 2021.
The practice has seen over 4.2 million annual visits and recently surpassed over 16,000 molecular tests processed at its Fort Myers lab facility.
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By GlobalDataFCS genetics laboratory associate director Jennifer Gass said: “Liquid biopsy is especially effective for providing genetic information quickly for various types of advanced cancers to help physicians assess and better target treatments that may work best and monitor patient response.
“Additionally, because it is minimally invasive and easy to repeat on an ongoing basis, liquid biopsy is significantly more comfortable for patients.”
The expansion of the NGS testing menu at the FCS includes the addition of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) testing, which analyses tumour DNA to determine potential treatment responses to poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors.
This class of drugs specifically targets cancer cells.
Other additions include a small heme NGS panel that identifies mutations related to myeloproliferative neoplasms and a quantitative assay for monitoring BCR-ABL gene fusions post-treatment in specific blood cancers.
