About oncoMonitor™
oncoMonitor™ is a new diagnostic tool based on so-called liquid biopsy - screening of ctDNA in peripheral blood of patients in advanced stages of cancer. It was developed in the Czech Republic based on ten years of research and collaboration with leading oncology centers.
The purpose of the oncoMonitor™ test is a follow-up of patients in advanced stages of cancer for early detection of newly arising metastatic lesions. The technology is capable of capturing ctDNA in up to 88% of patients with advanced colorectal cancer with the presence of liver metastases.
It is known that those people who experienced an oncological disease are at risk of having disease recurrence. Monitoring and early detection of cancer relapse are of high importance for the efficacy of subsequent treatment.
Current approaches for monitoring patients after cancer treatment are mostly based on the use of imaging techniques such as ultrasonography, magnetic resonance, and especially X-ray examination (computed tomography - CT). Although these procedures are reliable in most cases and represent the current standard of medical care in developed countries, their use has some limitations.
As a result of the possible negative impact on health (such as radioactive doses) and the non-negligible costs for health insurance companies, such monitoring cannot be done at short time intervals. In case of monitoring the majority of cancers, patients may be examined no more than once every 3-12 months. In fact, the intervals between individual examinations are often longer.
For these reasons, it is advantageous to use supplementary diagnostic methods to increase the probability of finding new cancer lesions as soon as possible. One such tool is the liquid biopsy or screening of ctDNA in the patient's peripheral blood. Regular examination of the presence of ctDNA in the blood of cancer patients after surgical removal of tumor lesions may help in the early detection of cancer relapse or the formation of metastases. The diagnosis of such a tumor at an early stage (when its size is smaller) is necessary for the possibility of its complete surgical removal.
Similarly, as other methods used for patients’ follow-up, ctDNA detection does not show 100% reliability as well, but it serves as one of the most valuable tools for postoperative monitoring.