During the clinical study, 68 new patients were tested, nearly a third of whom had received inconclusive FNA results. The researchers worked on identifying these diagnostic metabolic fingerprints for over two years using 178 patient tissues before starting a pilot clinical study. Using a technology called mass spectrometry imaging, the new metabolic thyroid test identifies metabolites produced by cancerous cells that act as a kind of diagnostic fingerprint. Thousands of patients each year have the surgery only to later learn it was unnecessary. Given the uncertainties, doctors often recommend removing part or all of the thyroid - the gland in the neck producing hormones that control the body's metabolic rate, as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development, mood and bone maintenance. When a pathologist is unable to confirm the presence of cancer, the patient may receive a follow-up genetic test that itself can produce false positive results. Unfortunately, the test used for diagnosis, called fine needle aspiration (FNA), is inconclusive about 1 out of every 5 times.
Rachel DeHoog, a graduate student who worked on the study, added, "Also very importantly, the ability to have certainty in your diagnosis is transformative for a patient presented with the grueling possibility of having cancer."Įach year in the U.S., about 52,000 new cases of thyroid cancer are diagnosed. Eberlin, assistant professor of chemistry and diagnostic medicine at The University of Texas at Austin and co-principal investigator.
"If we could prevent people from having surgery they don't need and enable them to have a more precise diagnosis, we can improve treatment for patients and lower costs for the health care system," said Livia S. 7) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results appear this week (starting Oct. "All the uncertainty was nerve wracking," Helms said.