![]() No other form of imaging can reveal this essential information!įurthermore, since the amount of the sugar-isotope solution a specific tumour drinks depends on how fast it is growing, a PET/CT can determine how aggressive a specific tumour is compared with other tumours in the body. Since only live tumours will drink the sugar-isotope solution, PET/CT can tell if a tumour is alive or if it has been affected (killed) by a specific treatment. Since tumour cells are constantly growing and therefore highly metabolic, they drink up more of the sugar-isotope solution than the surrounding tissues, and any tumour will glow like a Christmas tree light. While most forms of imaging look at the density of the tumour and compare it to the surrounding tissues, PET/CT uses a harmless radioactive isotope that is bound to a sugar molecule. PET/CT, unlike other forms of medical imaging, is able to identify active tumours at a very small size, based on the biological activity of the tumour. And we also suggested that she get a PET/CT to establish the exact state of her disease. Secondly, we asked Betty to contact an independent community oncologist near her hometown whom we had experience working with. At the time, this company was offering free access to their cancer hotspot mutational test, which identifies cancer-causing mutations. Since we didn’t know if Betty would be able to access the results from this study in a timely fashion, we also suggested that she contact a local company called Contextual Genomics. We immediately instructed Betty to obtain a copy of her oncopanel so we could determine if she had any targetable mutations. This study uses advanced tumour DNA sequencing to identify mutations from a panel of cancer associated genes, with the aim of customizing patient treatments. Colon Cancer Success Story How CTOAM Helped Bettyįirst of all, we obtained Betty’s medical records and discovered that she had recently participated in BCCA’s (British Columbia Cancer Agency) oncopanel pilot (TOP) study. She was told to get her affairs in order.īetty wasn’t ready to accept this outcome – so she reached out to CTOAM. Since her disease had not responded to standard treatments, her oncologist told her they’d run out of treatment options for her. However, Betty did not respond well to these standard protocols: a recent CT imaging scan ordered by Betty’s oncologist showed that her disease was progressing.īetty had endured surgery, multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and ineffective targeted drugs that left her with multiple side effects. Her doctors had tried the standard treatments for her disease including surgery, the chemotherapy protocols of FOLFIRI and FOLFOX, and the EGFR targeted drug panitumumab. ![]() Get a Precision Second Opinion now! Patient Presentation: Stage IV Colon Cancerīetty is a 65-year-old woman from British Columbia, Canada, who was originally treated for stage IV metastatic colon cancer. Colon Cancer Success Story: Betty (age 65)
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