on health A Simple Blood Test To Monitor Asbestos-Related Cancer (NAPSA)—The world’s first blood Gn vitro) test for monitoring mesothelioma, a form of cancer linked to asbestos exposure, has received approval from the FDA under the Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) program. With a simple blood test, the MESOMARK Assay test kit may enable doctors to monitor patients diagnosed with biphasic or epithelioid mesothelioma, the two most common forms of mesothelioma. A First—A simple blood test may now enable doctors to monitor an asbestos-related cancer. This test may enable doctors to more accurately detect recurrence and monitor treatment of patients with mesothelioma, which is often misdiagnosed and has been tracked as a cause of death only since 1999, according to Dr. W. Jeffrey Allard, Chief Scientific Officer of Fujirebio Diagnostics, Inc. The MESomMARKAssay test kit was developed by Fujirebio Diagnostics to measurelevels of a biomarker called SMRPin serum. Bio- markers are substances found in higher-than-normal concentrations in the blood, urine or body tissues of patients with certain diseases. “Current diagnostic tests are less than ideal for identifying changes in tumor volume, which is key to managing this aggressive disease,” Dr. Allard adds. “As the MESOMARKresults correlate with tumor volume, it provides a muchneeded tool for monitoring patient status.” To learn more, visit www.fdi.com/mesomark.
