Many new cancer treatment options have become available over the past few years. But many of these require a comprehensive genomic test first in order to determine which might be beneficial to a patient.
Dr. Neil Iyengar with the Metastatic Breast Cancer Alliance and Karen Peterson, a breast cancer patient and advocate joined The Vine to discuss genomic testing.
"Genomic testing is a way to personalize or individualize a treatment strategy after a person has been diagnosed with cancer," Dr. Neil Iyengar.
The test looks at the genes or DNA in the tumor or in the cancer cell to identify mutations specific in the cancer cells so treatments and clinical trials will focus on the cancer cells and not the healthy tissue.
"I got a report and it indicated I had mutations, several. And one came back that it could be targeted in a clinical trial and that's what actually happened...8 weeks after being on the trial, I got a 72 percent reduction in my legions," Karen Peterson said.
For more information about genomic testing, visit www.TestingMyCancer.com.