CTC liquid Biopsy

sanazsabeti65

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if anyone knows whether CTC liquid biopsy is being used for early stage breast cancer? My sister was diagnosed with ILC , stage 2A with one positive lymph node. Doctor didn`t want to do PET scan to check and see if there are mets anywhere else in the body. Is it common to use CTC test instead to check for metastasis?

maggie15

Hi @sanazsabeti65, The CTC liquid biopsy and PET scans are not used for early stage breast cancer because they do not provide a survival benefit. For stage 2 doctors do not check for metastasis unless someone develops symptoms which indicate it might be present.

sanazsabeti65

Thanks for your reply. It's understandable. But her subtype is ILC & I read some ILC cases that even though they were initially told they are stage 2 later they realized it`s metastatic. ILC can be tricky unfortunately

maggiehopley

I was stage 2A with negative lymph nodes and my MO did both a CT scan and nuclear bone scan to check for metastases. It is not standard of care, but she wanted to be sure, and my insurance covered it. I had IDC, not ILC.

sanazsabeti65

That's great. You got a good MO who goes above and beyond. Some doctors are so conservative in writing scans and tests. It's like money comes out of their own pocket.