Dr. Alan Miller on Benefits of Liquid Biopsy

Alan M. Miller, MD, PhD, Director of the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center and Chief of Oncology for the Baylor Health Care System discusses the benefits of liquid biopsy.

By dissecting the tumor molecularly and cellularly it can be determined what makes that tumor unique. Those unique factors can then be followed in the blood or the urine, providing critical information without going back into the tumor, says Miller.

This makes it easier to tell if the tumor is responding, allowing changes in treatment to be made right away if it is not. Liquid biopsy can also be used to find a common marker across tumor types that could become a screening tool for a cancer that may not have many effective screening tools.