[Debbie L.]

Lani, do you have the full text? I'd like to see the specifics of how reliable this test was. What I've seen before is that it's not very reliable. Yes, a higher number of people with DTCs relapse but it was nowhere close to everyone with DTCs does and no one without them doesn't.

Plus, wouldn't it, at this point, just put us where we are with now with neoadjuvant treatment and no pCR? Wondering what to do? There are only a few "post neoadjuvant" studies looking at this issue and they are pretty much shooting in the dark.

It's one thing to have these tests if we have a treatment to offer. But right now (alas), we've given it our best shot with the first treatment, as tailored to the tumor details as we currently know how to do. Instead of giving more treatment, I would like to see us focus on giving better (more targeted) treatment first time 'round so we didn't have to think about mopping up later.

Right now, I can only see DTCs as useful for learning more. Testing new drugs and/or pinning down treatments that kill stem cells, perhaps. Understanding more about the metastatic process perhaps. But not as a tool for treating any one individual.

Debbie Laxague