When might I refer a patient?

Our current NGS based tests are specifically designed to help guide treatment decisions with targeted therapies or PARP inhibitors, which are now widely used in a range of common solid tumours.  Not unsurprisingly therefore, the optimal point to refer a case is around the time when such therapies may represent an appropriate treatment option. This is typically directed by cancer staging, which will of course vary by case, with some patients being diagnosed with disease that is aggressive or already metastatic and thus it is important to make sure they get the correct approved therapy from the word go. Alternatively, other patients may be diagnosed early and following other interventions (e.g. surgery), may not progress to a stage where tumour profiling is required for many years, if ever. Finally, there are patients who may have exhausted their standard care options, and in these cases, tumour profiling can allow the possibilities of further ‘off-label’ or clinical trial opportunities to be explored.

Please note that our tests do not currently provide an assessment of Tumour Mutational Burden -TMB (potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitor use), or Genomic Instability Score – GIS (potential biomarker for PARP inhibitor use in ovarian cancer). If these markers are required, we can facilitate specimen referrals on to our carefully selected partner organisations.

Find out more about what our tests can tell you.