![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anhinga_draftsFor real, this time?
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/03/mgh_to_use_genetics_to_personalize_cancer_care/?page=full
March 3, 2009
"Cancer doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital plan within a year to read the genetic fingerprints of nearly all new patients' tumors, a novel strategy designed to customize treatment. The hope is to spare patients from the traditional hit-or-miss approach to cancer care, when expensive drugs with harmful side effects are often given without knowing whether they will work.
Doctors will hunt for 110 abnormalities, carried on 13 major cancer genes, that can predict whether drugs already on the shelf or in development might thwart a patient's tumor. They will use robots - and lab machines nicknamed John, Paul, George, and Ringo - that are capable of swiftly identifying genetic quirks in 5,000 to 6,000 patients a year, replacing labor-intensive techniques that had been used only selectively for a handful of cancers.
Mass. General's decision to make gene testing standard in cancer treatment - it's believed to be the first hospital in the nation to do so - represents a major step in delivering personalized medicine to the masses. But doctors acknowledge that it is unclear whether screening patients for an expanded library of tumor defects will actually save money on drugs, or whether it will translate into longer lives.[...]"
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/03/mgh_to_use_genetics_to_personalize_cancer_care/?page=full
March 3, 2009
"Cancer doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital plan within a year to read the genetic fingerprints of nearly all new patients' tumors, a novel strategy designed to customize treatment. The hope is to spare patients from the traditional hit-or-miss approach to cancer care, when expensive drugs with harmful side effects are often given without knowing whether they will work.
Doctors will hunt for 110 abnormalities, carried on 13 major cancer genes, that can predict whether drugs already on the shelf or in development might thwart a patient's tumor. They will use robots - and lab machines nicknamed John, Paul, George, and Ringo - that are capable of swiftly identifying genetic quirks in 5,000 to 6,000 patients a year, replacing labor-intensive techniques that had been used only selectively for a handful of cancers.
Mass. General's decision to make gene testing standard in cancer treatment - it's believed to be the first hospital in the nation to do so - represents a major step in delivering personalized medicine to the masses. But doctors acknowledge that it is unclear whether screening patients for an expanded library of tumor defects will actually save money on drugs, or whether it will translate into longer lives.[...]"
