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Cancer biomarker use varies widely, needs a ‘broader view’

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Kevin B. O’Reilly

June 2014—Despite an explosion of research into cancer biomarkers and professional guidelines that urge testing for certain genetic mutations that help detect disease, anticipate its course, or predict response to treatment, many cancer centers are out of sync with oncology testing recommendations.

Payment policies, regulatory oversight, clinician preferences, and varying access to testing technology are among the factors that contribute to discrepancies in cancer care.

So says Jan A. Nowak, MD, PhD. And he is worth hearing out on the subject, as did an audience of hundreds of pathologists, oncologists, and others at this year’s Cancer Biomarkers Conference in Houston.

“Adoption of biomarker cancer testing is not high among cancer centers,” Dr. Nowak told the crowd. “It seems high to us because . . . we go to the meetings and we talk to each other, and we’re doing this stuff. But then there are the people who are not going to the meetings, not talking about it, and not doing it.”

Dr. Nowak directs the molecular diagnostics laboratory at NorthShore University HealthSystem, based in Evanston, Ill. He is a former president of the Association for Molecular Pathology, is active in biomarkers work within the CAP, and is a “legend in biomarkers and molecular pathology,” says Philip T. Cagle, MD.

Dr. Cagle organized the Houston conference and is medical director of pulmonary pathology in the Department of Pathology and Genomic Medicine at Houston Methodist Hospital. He is also editor in chief of the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, in which proceedings of the meeting will be published this fall.
The reasons why many cancer centers fail to make use of recommended cancer biomarker testing are “multiple and complex,” Dr. Nowak said.

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