A new test developed by researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston may enable doctors to gauge exactly when a cancer patient’s tumor begins to grow.
The new test, which is still considered experimental, works by detecting a hormone-like growth factor which shows up in urine. The test has already been used in more than 1,000 cancer patients in Boston, and according to researchers, it seems to identify those people who are at the highest risk of relapse.
The success of the new test depends on the detection of an obscure protein, known as growth factor bFGF, in the patient’s urine and blood once a tumor begins accelerated growth. If the new test identifies the presence of the growth factor, doctors know the tumor is growing.
Further tests are needed to determine the test’s reliability, but researchers are hopeful that it may one day win government approval and become available to the public.
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