Providing cancer patients with precision oncology options from the start can help them make informed decisions about how to allocate their tumor tissue. Once you determine whether their cancer is regional, distant, or has metastatic potential, it may be a good time to consider YourPDX functional testing. All too often, cancer patients pursue precision oncology options very late in their disease, when they have treatment fatigue and are out of standard-of-care options. Imagine if every individual diagnosed with cancer knew in advance the options available to them for second- or third-line treatment.
The following circumstances may not be suitable for YourPDX Functional Precision Oncology testing, since tumor tissue may not engraft well: 1) Early-stage cancers* and 2) Tumor tissue that has been irradiated within 10 weeks of biopsy or resection surgery.
*Note: Because every cancer is unique, there is no ideal stage during which to begin the functional testing process. That said, patients with slow tumor cell proliferation or very early Stage 1 cancers may not be good candidates. When cancerous cells have begun to spread or metastasize from the primary tumor into nearby tissues or lymph nodes, it’s more likely engraftment will be successful.