Guardant Health, a prominent precision oncology company, has announced that Geisinger Health Plan will now cover its Guardant Reveal™ minimal residual disease (MRD) test. This blood test identifies circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) post-treatment, assisting oncologists in pinpointing patients with lingering or recurring disease who might benefit from further therapy or monitoring. Specifically, Geisinger will cover the test for individuals with stage II or III colorectal cancer after curative treatment. The coverage aligns with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s monitoring guidelines for colorectal cancer. Helmy Eltoukhy, Guardant Health’s chairman and co-CEO, expressed his satisfaction with Geisinger’s decision, emphasizing its potential to…
Author: Abhay Panchal
TOPLINE:Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an independent risk factor for precancerous colorectal adenomatous polyps in men and women, according to results of a large study. METHODOLOGY:Researchers conducted a retrospective review of the medical records of adults who underwent abdominal ultrasound and colonoscopy at a single hospital in China from January 2018 to December 2022 to determine NAFLD status and presence of polyps. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to detect associations between NAFLD and adenomatous and non-adenomatous polyps.
Guardant Health has prematurely halted a trial for its minimum residual disease (MRD) blood test after reviewing interim analysis results. The COBRA study was assessing the efficacy of Guardant’s MRD blood test in enhancing outcomes for stage II colon cancer patients post-surgery. The test was designed to detect circulating tumor deoxyribonucleic acid to guide subsequent treatments. Although specific data from the trial hasn’t been disclosed, Guardant’s shares dropped by approximately 13% following the news. The trial, initiated in collaboration with NRG Oncology in 2020, was based on evidence suggesting the LUNAR-1 blood test could pinpoint patients likely to benefit from…
Researchers are exploring the potential of liquid biopsy as a diagnostic tool for colorectal and lung cancers. A method called methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme digestion followed by sequencing (MRE-Seq) has been identified as a promising technique for detecting global hypomethylation patterns in liquid biopsy samples. This method can accurately diagnose colorectal and lung cancers and determine the cancer signal origin (CSO) using deep neural network (DNN) analysis. Methylation patterns in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) are being viewed as a potential genomic feature to detect the presence and origin of cancer. The study involved 191 patients with stage I-IV cancers (95 lung cancers…
Colorectal cancers, which encompass cancers of the colon or rectum, have been on the rise among young individuals globally since the 1990s. While the exact reasons for this increase remain elusive, potential risk factors identified by the Center for Disease Control include inactivity, obesity, low dietary fiber intake, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and “Western dietary patterns” characterized by high amounts of red and processed meats, added sugars, and refined grains. Due to the growing prevalence, the American Cancer Society revised its guidelines in 2018, recommending colorectal cancer screenings for average-risk individuals to begin at age 45 instead of the previous…
Female surgeons have demonstrated better outcomes in elective and acute care cholecystectomies, a common surgical procedure, compared to their male counterparts, as per a study published in JAMA Surgery. However, they also had longer operating times. The research, which utilized data from the Swedish National Registry of Gallstone Surgery, encompassed 150,509 patients who underwent the procedure between January 2006 and December 2019. The findings revealed that male surgeons encountered more surgical complications, including bleeding, visceral perforation, bile duct injury, and postoperative bile leakage. Additionally, their patients had longer hospital stays. In contrast, female surgeons had longer operating durations for both…
Techsomed Ltd., a pioneer in medical software focusing on enhancing the clinical impact of ablation therapy, has announced that it has secured 510(k) clearance from the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its software, VisAble.IO. This software is designed to aid physicians in planning liver ablation procedures and verifying ablation zones, aiming to enhance treatment accuracy. Ablation Therapy, a favored minimally invasive treatment, uses extreme temperatures to eliminate abnormal tissue. The VisAble.IO software is a component of Techsomed’s comprehensive BioTrace solution, an AI-powered system for Image Guided Ablation Therapy. This system employs AI technology to utilize standard imaging techniques,…
Fecal immunochemical test (FIT)-based screenings have proven effective in detecting early-stage colorectal cancer (CRC) during both initial and subsequent screenings. Research data indicates that CRCs identified through FIT screenings are more frequently diagnosed at stages I to II (66%-71%) compared to CRCs detected clinically (40%-57%). Arthur I. Kooyker, MD, PhD, from the department of public health at Erasmus University Medical Center, and his team utilized data from a Dutch CRC screening program, examining over 266,434 individuals. The results showed that 66.5% of CRCs were diagnosed at stages I to II during the first screening and 67.7% during the second screening.…
A recent clinical trial has indicated that using resistant starch as a microbiota-directed dietary supplement could be a promising intervention for patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The study, which spanned four months, compared the outcomes of NAFLD patients on a resistant starch diet to a control group. The results revealed a 5.89% net absolute change in intrahepatic triglyceride content (IHTC) in the resistant starch group compared to the control group after adjusting for weight loss, equating to a relative change of 24.30%. Huating Li from Shanghai Sixth People’s Hospital emphasized the effectiveness, affordability, and sustainability of this intervention,…
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has introduced a significant initiative to evaluate a state’s capability to enhance the overall health care management of its residents. The program, named the States Advancing All-Payer Health Equity Approaches and Development Model (or “States Advancing AHEAD” or “AHEAD Model”), is designed to more effectively tackle chronic illnesses, behavioral health issues, and other medical conditions. With the AHEAD Model, states that participate will be better positioned to foster health equity, expand access to primary care services, establish health care spending on a more sustainable path, and reduce health care expenses for patients.…