What MRD Testing Can Mean for Patients With Breast Cancer and Survivors

Minimal residual disease, or MRD, testing can offer psychological comfort to patients with breast cancer and survivors as well as insight into potential treatment strategies for care providers, as an expert explained in an interview with CURE.

CURE recently spoke with Dr. Pablo Prichard about issues related to cancer survivorship, including the potential utility of MRD testing. Prichard, a board-certified oncological reconstructive surgeon, is the surgical director at the Vincere Cancer Center in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Transcript:

What can MRD testing results offer patients with breast cancer, survivors and providers?

When you have a mastectomy, then you're told, “OK, you're done. You had a mastectomy. There's no breast tissue there, so you're not going to get any more imaging, you're not going to get a mammogram, not going to get an MRI, you're not going to get an ultrasound.” And then you're thinking to yourself, “OK, well, I have no idea what's going on. Then, if I can't see anything, I have no idea what's going on. And I'm constantly worried about, I hear all the time that you had a mastectomy, it still comes back. What if it comes back?”

And there's zero surveillance that is being done to most cancer survivors. That, from a psychological standpoint, is really bad, in my opinion. So, with MRD or minimal residual disease testing, it's being able to give, on that periodic basis, that reassurance to the patient that we're looking after you, we're monitoring you. This is not something that you need to be constantly fearful and vigilant about. There's a structured plan here that's taking care of you.

I think that goes a really long way, No. 1 to their psychological health, but also, if there happens to be an early recurrence and you can find it way before imaging would have found it, then you can start treatment way before you would have otherwise, and you're just that far ahead of the game. And so, I think a patient realizing that is beneficial on so many different fronts — practically from a front of, “Hey, there's bad news here. We can start cancer treatment really early, and you benefit from that,” to the psychological standpoint of, we know you're being watched. It's not like, “See you later. If you have a problem, let us know.” How am I going to have a problem? How do I know? “Oh, you might feel a lump or something like that.” That is not a great way to provide surveillance.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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