Cancer Archive

Liquid biopsies may offer a less invasive alternative than a traditional biopsy.

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A tissue biopsy is the standard test for identifying cancer. Your medical team will use needles or other devices to capture pieces of actual tumor to see if it's malignant or benign. But another approach, called a liquid biopsy, is less invasive and may provide a diagnosis when a biopsy doesn't.

This test uses a person's blood to look for signs of cells or mutated DNA that a tumor has shed into the bloodstream. "By sampling DNA or circulating tumor cells in the blood, we can predict and monitor responses to cancer treatments without subjecting patients to invasive biopsy procedures — and perhaps detect cancer early, before it has had a chance to spread," says Dr. David Miyamoto, assistant professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School.

Research we're watching

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March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Have you been screened? Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, but is also highly preventable through recommended screenings. These screenings enable doctors to spot precancerous lesions that can lead to colon cancer and remove them before they become a problem. Screenings can also find cancers early, when they are most treatable. All people ages 50 to 75 should get recommended colon cancer screenings. Some people should start getting screened earlier if they have certain risk factors for colon cancer, including a family history, a personal history of inflammatory bowel disease (such as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis), or a genetic condition that makes colon cancer more likely (such as familial adenomatous polyposis).

There are several tests used for colon cancer screening, including colonoscopy, which uses a device to examine the full length of the colon and rectum; stool tests; flexible sigmoidoscopy, which uses a device to examine a portion of the colon; and CT colonography, a scanning technique that produces images of the colon that are examined by the doctor.

Men with prostate cancer that has spread outside the gland now have several newer drug options available for treatment, and research has found that taking any of them is likely to improve survival duration.

Precision medicine offers a personalized approach for prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases.

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If you have a stomachache or cold, you go to the pharmacy and grab the same remedy that everyone else uses, and it often works. But is that always the best approach? Your reaction to an infection may be quite different from someone else's, so perhaps you need a treatment designed just for you and your ailment.

That's the philosophy behind precision medicine (sometimes referred to as personalized medicine), an emerging approach to prevention and treatment that takes into account a person's genes, environment, and lifestyle and eliminates the one-size-fits-all approach to health care.

In the journals

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While it's important to have any suspicious mole checked for possible skin cancer, a study published online Aug. 29, 2017, by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology suggests most melanomas — the deadliest skin cancer — appear as new spots on the skin. The researchers reviewed 38 studies involving 20,126 cases of melanoma and found that 29% of diagnosed melanomas came from an existing mole, while 71% appeared as new spots. Moreover, they discovered that melanomas that grew from moles were thinner and thus less aggressive than other melanomas. In fact, people whose melanoma was associated with a mole had a better prognosis than others.

The study's authors stressed the importance of looking for any new spots on the skin as well as checking moles for changes, like itching or bleeding, and to see a dermatologist if needed. The American Academy of Dermatology encourages everyone to perform regular skin self-exams, and to ask a partner to check hard-to-see areas like the back. You can learn how to do a skin self-exam, and much more, at www.aad.org/public/spot-skin-cancer.

Research we're watching

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To catch skin cancer early, be on the lookout for new spots on your skin. A recent study found that more often than not, melanoma occurs as a new spot on your body — not as changes in an existing mole. The study, published online August 29 by the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, found that only 29% of melanomas came from an existing mole on the body that changed. In 71% of cases, melanoma occurred in a new lesion that popped up in a new place on the skin. In addition, the study authors noted that melanomas that do occur in existing moles tend to be thinner than melanomas in new lesions.

In addition to looking for new and unusual spots on your skin, remember your ABCDs to spot the signs of melanoma: