Maintrac CTC Test Kit

Description

What Maintrac® testing does for cancer patients:

1. Monitoring of cancer therapy
Maintrac® cell counts provide information on whether a cancer therapy is effective or not. If the number of cells decreases during therapy, this is normally an indication that the therapy is having an effect. If the cell count increases during the therapy period, this generally indicates that optimization of the therapy would be recommendable.

2. Analysis of drugs
Maintrac® allows prior testing of certain substances directly on the living circulating tumour cells. The critical factor to be determined here is which drug destroys the most circulating tumour cells. Thus, conclusions can be made about the likely effectiveness of therapy. Certain alternative substances can also be tested for their effectiveness.

3. Determination of therapy-relevant tumour properties
In order to tailor the therapy to each individual patient, certain properties of the tumour cells need to be analyzed. Different therapy-related properties, as well as any changes in these properties, can be identified by Maintrac®, such that therapy can be promptly adapted if needed.

4. Early detection of renewed tumour activity
Using circulating tumour cells, Maintrac® can monitor not only the therapy itself, but also the subsequent course of disease after completing therapy. In certain circumstances, it can also be beneficial to carry out a counting of circulating cells after finishing treatment as Maintrac® can identify new cancer growth in its early stages.

Maintrac® is designed for epithelial tumours, but also works for certain brain tumours and sarcomas. It is not to be used for lymphomas or leukemias.