Scripps physicians call for change in cancer tissue handling
Genetic sequencing technology is altering the way cancer is
diagnosed and treated, but traditional specimen handling methods
threaten to slow that progress. That's the message delivered
this week in a column appearing in the Journal of the American
Medical Association (JAMA) by Scripps Clinic physicians Eric
Topol, Kelly Bethel and Laura Goetz. Dr. Topol is a cardiologist
who serves as chief academic officer of Scripps Health and
director of the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI),
leading Scripps' genomic medicine research efforts. Dr. Bethel
is a pathologist, and Dr. Goetz is a general surgeon and a
researcher at STSI. "Deciding how best to obtain (tumor) samples
and how best to process them for whole genome or exome
sequencing is a pivotal yet unresolved issue with several layers
of complexity," the doctors wrote. "As the new clinical
applicability of genomics emerges at a fairly rapid rate, the
field of pathology will arrive at a tipp