Predicting result of mesothelioma patients treated with surgery with the help of gene expression tests

Surgery is one of the most effective asbestos treatment methods available for patients suffering from malignant mesothelioma. The problem with surgery is that not all patients are able to receive this kind of treatment, thus resulting in negative outcomes. Doctor Raphael Bueno of the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston discovered that measuring expression ratio of four different genes could provide with the outcome of a surgical procedure in an individual before the actual procedure is performed.

Doctor Bueno is excited about gene expression ratio tests because they will allow doctors to predict things that were not able to be predicted in the past. The test is quite simple to perform with the use of special equipment that can accurately work with genes and DNA.

This new discovery has been tested by doctor Bueno on 120 different patients and the results were stunning. The test was conducted performing several diagnosis and prognosis techniques, and on several tumor samples in order to exclude the possibility that the test only turns out correct results for a small number of cases.

Combining this technique with other prognostic and diagnostic tools and procedures, the results returned were extremely accurate, doctors being able to separate patients into high and low risk groups.
Results of the testing phase

The results were very accurate for all patients, being able to predict survivability of the person after a surgical procedure. This allows doctors to perform the simple test and establish whether or not mesothelioma surgery is a suitable option for the specific individual. Here are the advantages of using such techniques:

* it allows doctors to clearly decide whether or not to perform a radical surgical procedure
* patients that are not suitable for this kind of mesothelioma treatment method will not have to put up with any kind of additional discomfort
* time will not be wasted performing a treatment method that will only cause more harm to the patient

What the author thinks

The author is certain that this new gene expression ratio test technique will provide with useful results for patients, and allow mesothelioma doctors to avoid complications and further distress to the patient. It is important that this technique be perfected and released for use for all mesothelioma patients.

The author also says that further tests are needed before the public release, but will not take very long. They need to be certain about the techniques’ benefits towards patients.