Next generation cancer sequencing technology to speed up cancer testing, possibly treatment
CANCER remains to be one of the top three killer diseases in the country, next only to ischemic and cerebrovascular diseases. The difficult part for most cancers is that some are detected when it is at its more serious stage already, where treatment and recovery would be next to impossible for certain patients. However, the future of early cancer detection in the Philippines remains to be bright through a new technology that will soon be available in the country to help fight cancer called Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). Cancer defined ACCORDING to Dr. Eugene Odoño, Medical Specialist III at the Department of Laboratories of the UP Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH), cancer is defined as the abnormal growth of cells that may lead to the formation of tumors. While the existence of a tumor does not necessarily mean it is cancer, most cancers, except those in the blood, can create tumors. Cancer may also deprive the body of nutrition and can also destroy other organs a...