Infovista Technology Llc


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Infovista Technology Llc

Infovista Technology Llc

The Boston Globe article "MGH test for cancer gets backing" on January 3, 2011 reports an expected announcement from researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital today regarding their work on a cancer screening blood test. In a partnership with Johnson & Johnson, researchers are hoping to turn the blood test from a research tool into a test directly accessible to doctors for patient care. At this stage, the technology is too new and its use limited; but the goal is to find a way to make the test faster and cheaper, increasing its accessibility to the general public.

How the Cancer Blood Test Works

Currently researchers have developed only a prototype of the test, using a type of filter to capture cancer cells within blood and count/analyze them. Right now the filter can pick up, on average, ten cancer cells per milliliter of blood, giving them a tool to track metastatic cancers (cancers that have spread through the bloodstream). Evaluation of the cancer cells allows researchers to identify the effectiveness of treatment by counting the number of cancer cells and determining their genetic makeup. In time, they hope to improve the sensitivity of the test to the point of using it as a screening tool.