Providing Physicians and Patients with Individualized Cancer Tumor Analysis
There is a tremendous need for new ways to manage and treat cancer, an extremely complex disease
family that accounts for almost one out of every four deaths in the United States.1
An individual cancer contains many different alterations based on the unique biology
of that cancer patient's disease. As a result, certain cancer patients may be more
likely than others to develop advanced disease or to respond to cancer therapy and
treatment. Until recently, we have only had limited insight into these differences
at a cancer patient's initial
diagnosis, which limited clinicians' ability to
choose a cancer therapy and treatment tailored to the individual.
This is where genomics research—the study of complex sets of genes
and how they work in our bodies' cells to influence tumor biology and behavior (among other functions)—comes
in. At Genomic Health, new genomic testing services are being developed to provide
clinically
validated, individualized tumor profiles in order to improve the quality
of treatment decisions for patients with cancer, ultimately with the goal of impacting
cancer patient outcomes.
Learn more about Genomic Health's products in development:
Contact Genomic Health for more
information about genomic research.
- American Cancer Society, Inc.'s Cancer Statistics 2008. Accessed August 12, 2008.