Dr. Posadas on the Use of Circulating Tumor Cells in mCRPC

Edwin M. Posadas, MD, medical director, Urologic Oncology Program, co-director, Translational Oncology Program, associate professor of medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses the future of early detection in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Though some medical centers will take a biopsy of the prostate every month, asking for a blood draw is less invasive. Physicians debate the use of with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) within the prostate cancer field; however, it can be useful tool for a large subset of tumors, Posadas explains.

However, there are many tumors that don’t produce PSA or have alterations that PSA does not reflect. In these cases, something like a circulating tumor assay may be complementary and add information that PSA testing may not provide. The combination has given physicians new insights into how prostate cancer behaves.