LANSING, Mich. — Sparrow Hospital’s Herbert-Herman Cancer Center is now a part of a national breast cancer trial called I-SPY 2, the only hospital in Michigan to do so.
Sparrow is joining medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic and just enrolled its first patient.
“She got her first treatment yesterday and we were able to incorporate immunotherapy and a targeted treatment for her so it's really exciting to see some of these newer, less toxic, more targeted therapies get added,” said Brittany Thomas, a medical oncologist at the Sparrow Hospital Cancer Center.
Sparrow Hospital calls the trial a major step in the advancement of precision medicine. The hospital says the cancer treatment is individualized based on the patient’s specific tumor instead of “using a one-size-fits-all approach” and that any patient who receives care at Sparrow will be screened for participation in the trial.
“The fact that an institution that is a midsize hospital was able to, to enroll in this, it is truly a big deal. We are very excited. Our clinical trials team worked very hard for two years for us to be to be accepted into it,” said Thais Fortes, a surgeon and the director of Sparrow Hospital Breast Cancer Program.
Fortes and Thomas said the trial allows them to reduce certain treatments and drugs and to offer alternate treatments instead.
“This trial allows us to not only look at the receptor status. When we meet a new breast cancer patient, we already tell them, your tumor's about as unique as you are. And we always look for the typical things like estrogen and progesterone and two new receptors. This allows us to take it a step further. We get additional biopsies. We look at a 70-gene assay called a MammaPrint. So, we know at a gene molecular level, how is your tumor going to behave,” Thomas said.
Fortes said, becoming a part of the trial wasn’t easy.
“We had to get better on the way we did imaging on the way we do surgery on the way we do pathology to meet the criteria, because here we are not a standard of care anymore, we are way above side to be able to participate on it,” Fortes said.
According to Thomas and Fortes, the trial requires more intensive treatment for a patient as they are doing an additional biopsies and additional breast MRIs but does not add cost for the patient.
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