THE IMPORTANCE OF CANCER MONITORING AND TREATMENT

The method helps to detect minimal residuals of tumours. If the result is positive, the disease is still present, and there is a very high risk of recurrence after treatment. If K-TRACK ^TM is negative, it means that no cancer remnant is detected after treatment. Based on K-TRACK ^TM results, doctors can determine the effectiveness of treatment and identify which patients are at high or low risk for cancer recurrence and how long it will take for the cancer to come back.

The timing of K-TRACK ^TM performance depends on many factors and is specific to each individual. Usually it will be done in three main stages: 
– 2–4 weeks before and after surgery.
– Before and after the end of the treatment regimen and every 2–3 cycles during the treatment.
– Every 3 months/2 initial years and every 6 months/3 following years.

– At least 21–30 days after first K-TRACK ^TM test.

– At least 7 days for routine evaluation and follow-up tests.

– After 7–10 days to receive genetic mutation results for targeted therapy (lung, breast, colorectal cancer)

K-TRACK ^TM is NOT USED for:​

– Pre-surgery evaluation of neoadjuvant/adjuvant treatment.​
– Patients with cancer recurrence.​
– Pregnant patients.​
– Patients with a history of bone marrow transplant or whole blood transfusion within the past three months.

For cancer patients, post-treatment surveillance is crucial to detect minimal residual disease as well as signs of cancer recurrence, thereby taking timely interventions. This can help the oncologist identify:

– How your patient is responding to treatment.

– If further cancer treatment needs to be considered.

– Whether there are signs that the cancer has returned or progressed.

Routine tests used for screening and monitoring cancer treatment include immunohistochemistry index, CT scan, MRI, PET, endoscopy, scan, mammogram and X-ray, which are mainly imaging tests limited in their ability to detect very small traces of cancer in the blood when the tumour is very small or not visible to the naked eye. If left untreated, residual cancer cells are highly likely to multiply and cause a recurrence.