No one wants to be sick and it can be very expensive and nerve-racking if you ended up getting treatments at the hospital.I learned that when I was 5 years old. My father usually goes to the hospital because of his Asthma and stomach ulcer attacks. Next thing I knew it, that ulcer has became a pancreatic cancer stage 3 and more. When someone in your family has cancer, the usual reaction of the love one is both heartbreak and fear. As a 16-year old teenager, I learned to have those feelings towards my dad. I also learned that cancer can crush someone’s life and it will take its toll in your family in full blow.
A cancer diagnosis is one of the worst news anyone can get from their doctor. Your life and future change in an instant, and suddenly everything is uncertain. But, what if it were possible to catch the cancer in its earlier stage, early enough to take steps to better manage it? Also, in a lot of cases with cancer, the treatment is nearly as bad as the disease itself. What if, you can identify which therapy will deliver the best possible result through a more precise, more individualized management plan?
The Research Genetic Cancer Center (RGCC), a world-class laboratory that specializes in medical and cancer genetics, focuses on early detection, personalized chemosensitivity testing, and accurate monitoring. They believe that “there’s no one-size-fits-all method to cancer treatment,” and the only way for practitioners to come-up with an effective battle plan is to be fully knowledgeable of the cancer, at a genetic level. During their presscon, their CEO and Medical Director Dr. Ioannis Papasotiriou graced the event by educating us on how cancer is occurring and how it is treated.
RGCC’s first step in cancer therapy is isolating and identifying Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs). CTCs are cells that have broken away from a primary cancer site and entered the blood stream. Oncocount is RGCC’s screening test that gives information on the presence and concentration of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). These cells could potentially spread the disease even to distant organs. Oncotrace shows the presence of CTCs, their concentration, and immunophenotype (what type of cell it is). Oncotrail is the test tailor-made for specific types of cancers used for follow up control on old cancers. With the information that their tests provide, new cancers are detected and diagnosed; existing cancers are monitored; and information about the possible risk of recurrence of a current or old cancer is provided.
Once the cancer cells have been identified and targeted, RGCC tests for chemosensitivity or chemoresistance. These tests provide guidance in deciding on the best available treatment for the individual patient. They take out the trial and error aspect in cancer treatment because it already determines how effective a specific treatment and how significant the side effects would be even before embarking on a chemotherapy program. Onconomics gives the information on whether or not a specific drug works on the cancer cells of the patient. Onconomics Extracts, in the meantime, shows if natural biological substances or extract can counter cancer cells—this gives the patient the option of using natural substances as a complementary treatment strategy. Onconomics Plus is a combination of the two tests.
Emphirical chemotherapy may have a low percentage of efficacy because each person’s response to drugs can be different. Every person has a unique genetic response to cancer, depending on their genetic fingerprint. There are the Rapid Metabolizers, whose cells can process the drug so fast that it doesn’t have an effect on them; Accumulators, on the other hand, cannot take out the by-products of a drug so they often suffer from debilitating side effects and toxicities; and there are the Normal Metabolizers, who can normally process a drug to its active form and releases its byproducts. ChemoSNiP examines the inherited variations in genes that dictate drug response and explore the ways these variations can be used to predict how the patient will respond- positive, negative or non-response- to the drug.
Meanwhile, the Immune-Frame looks for the type of cells that are responsible for the activation or repression of one’s immune system. Cells of the primary tumor may have the ability to spread to other organs. To help doctors and patients in proactive monitoring of the metastases trends, Metastat can help identify the potential organ that can be affected in the future, like the lungs, bone, liver, and brain.
The main goal of RGCC Genetic Cancer tests is to discover, analyze, and screen the cancer cells at every stage of the disease to give the patient an advantage against the fight against cancer.
With the information from the tests, patients and their doctors are better equipped in creating a precise, effective and sustainable health management plan. Meanwhile, health and wellness facilities focused on creating health can work with the patient and physician in developing a health plan that would keep the rest of the body strong and healthy, through diet and lifestyle modification, to help prevent the spread of the cancer. The attending physician or oncologist can focus more on the cancer treatment and management plan.
The RGCC Genetic Cancer tests are made available and accessible by Global Medical Technologies (GMT). GMT has been at the forefront of making some of the most up-to-date and relevant medical technologies and diagnostics from developed countries accessible to Filipino medical practitioners and patients, and help them outsmart health issues. In this season, they aimed to help other organizations like Philippine Cancer Society to make these procedures made more available to many Filipino patients.
The RGCC tests can be requested through your Physician. It is exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Global Medical Technologies. For more information, patients and health practitioners may visit www.gmtmanila.com or www.rgcc-group.com for more updates about this new research in cancer treatmen.
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