Between CT scans in July and December, Stephen Kauffman’s kidney cancer went from undetectable to widely spread in his brain, femur, liver, stomach lining and vertebrae.
“All of a sudden, it’s all over the place,” said Kauffman, a Harleysville, Montgomery County resident.
Despite advances in cancer treatment stretching life expectancy from months to years in many cases, doctors haven’t found a simple way to closely monitor the growth of tumors.
Biopsies are invasive and scans are expensive.
This month, Kauffman signed up for research that could lead to better cancer monitoring. He is among the first patients at Lehigh Valley Health Network to test an experimental device that detects tumor cells in blood samples.
The device was developed by Yaling Liu, an engineer and professor at Lehigh University. Liu became interested in cancer diagnostics after attending a conference hosted by the National Cancer Institute several years ago. Then he received a grant to launch his research.
The device works like a sorting machine, separating the tumor cells from normal cells. A machine pumps blood through a transparent slide that’s no bigger than a thumb. Blood flows over a series of ripples covered in magnetic particles that snag passing tumor cells.
Scientists like Liu are eager to find an accurate blood test that would offer a cheaper and more convenient way to diagnose and track cancer growth. While existing blood exams look for changes that can indicate cancer, they don’t isolate tumor cells, he said. He has applied for a patent so that he can one day sell the devices to hospitals.
In the past year, he partnered with LVHN to move the device from his laboratory to doctors’ offices. Doctors then will analyze patients’ blood samples to see if tumor cell counts match CT scans showing progression or regression of the disease, explained Dr. Suresh Nair, medical director of LVHN Cancer Institute.
“Just because we’ve been doing scans for the last 30 years doesn’t mean we have to keep doing it,” Nair said.
LVHN and the university hope to recruit about 30 patients. Beyond monitoring, the blood test could offer a more sophisticated look at how tumor cells mutate.
“If we’re able to understand the mutation of cancer, we can stay ahead of cancer to change treatment,” Nair said.
Liu hopes to finish collecting data by the end of the year.
Kauffman said he was excited to participate in the research that could potentially help future patients monitor their cancers with more ease and frequency.
He wonders if a more sophisticated device could have caught the return of his cancer before it spread throughout his body.
“I’d like to see science move forward here with these new tools,” he said.
Twitter @Bhuang2012
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