Benefitting from Previstage™ GCC
Previstage GCC Answers the Question: “Has My Cancer Spread?”
The Previstage GCC Colorectal Cancer Staging Test provides significantly more accurate information to establish the clinical stage of your colorectal cancer. In other words, it helps answer the question, “Has my cancer spread?” It does so by detecting the presence or absence of the GCC marker in lymph nodes that have been removed during your colorectal cancer surgery.
Staging of Your Cancer
Staging is one way physicians classify cancer. Criteria include the size of your tumor and whether it has spread to the lymph nodes surrounding your tumor. Staging is one of the most important tools physicians have in determining a patient’s prognosis (or risk of colon and rectal cancer recurrence) and the type of treatment a patient should receive.
In assessing the stage of your cancer, the pathologist will examine under a microscope thin slices of tissue from each of your lymph nodes removed during your surgery (usually 12 nodes or more). If cancer cell clusters are not found in your lymph nodes, the cancer will be classified as stage I or II. Most patients with stage I or II disease are considered cured or at low risk for disease recurrence and do not receive chemotherapy.
Unfortunately, studies have shown that 1 in 5 patients with no evidence of colon or rectal cancer cells in their lymph nodes experience a recurrence of their cancer, presumably through cancer cells that were missed using the microscopic method, and which resulted in an underestimation of their risk of recurrence. In comparison, most stage III patients (that is, those where cancer cells were found in their lymph nodes as seen under the microscope) receive chemotherapy.
If I Am Stage I or II, Am I One of Those 20% Who Will Have a Disease Recurrence?
This is a very difficult yet critical question to answer. Fortunately, with research on the human genome and molecular technologies, it is now possible to detect cancer cells in your lymph nodes with 100,000 times more sensitivity and, therefore, better assess your risk of recurrence.
This is exactly what the Previstage GCC Colorectal Cancer Staging Test does. The test detects the presence or absence of GCC gene activity in your lymph nodes removed during the surgery. GCC is normally found exclusively in colon cells, both normal and cancerous. So when it is detected in the lymph nodes, it is an indication that the cancer has spread, and you and your doctor may decide on additional treatment, such as chemotherapy, to lower your risk of recurrence. On the other hand, if GCC is absent in your lymph nodes, it indicates that there is lower risk that your cancer has spread, and you and your doctor may decide not to risk the negative impact of chemotherapy.