Tift Regional Medical Center’s use of the TissueCypher test helps detect esophageal cancer early

TIFTON, Ga. – A new means of testing at Tift Regional Medical Center (TRMC) is going to be playing a major role going forward in helping people detect a certain form of cancer earlier.

We spoke with bariatric surgeon, Dr. Paul Cartwright Thursday morning about the TissueCypher test.

And… how it’s going to help those who may be dealing with acid reflux better react to prevent esophageal cancer.

“What we’ve only been able to do, recently or up to now, is just look at what the cells look like right now,” Dr. Paul Cartwright, Bariatric Specialist, Tift Reg. Medical Center.

The TissueCypher test analyzes cellular and molecular information from a patient’s tissue biopsy and then uses that information to provide a 5-year probability of progression to high-grade dysplasia (abnormal cell growth) or esophageal cancer.

We managed to get a look in the pathology lab that sends tissue samples to the Castle Biosciences lab in Pittsburgh where the TissueCypher test is run.

Dr. Cartwright explains to us that TissueCypher can have a drastic impact in detecting potential cancer cells earlier…

Especially when someone with Barrett’s esophagus can see their chances of getting cancer increase significantly.

“Well, only 0.25% a quarter of a percent per year. So, but when what about the high grade? The high grade folks, they can have cancer and 33% of them per year can get cancer. So, it’s a huge spread and the risk. So, what we want to try to do is predict who is going to progress in their Barrett’s. So, the Barrett’s goes from the progression goes from normal to non dysplastic to low grade to high grade to cancer,” said Dr. Cartwright.

Tift Regional Medical Center has only used TissueCypher for around three months…

But… it’s changed how they’re able to go about detecting cancer clusters.

“Before this test we would have just put them in the same bucket like we would have just said, oh that’s, that’s low risk, you know. So, within the low-risk people we can predict a higher chance of progression toward cancer. So, it allows us to do something called ablation where we can go in and we can ablate or kill off those pre-cancerous cells,” said Dr. Cartwright.

While something like acid reflux is certainly common among adults, Dr. Cartwright says that testing like this through TissueCypher will help people truly get out in front of their health.

“I would just say, you know, if you if you’ve had acid reflux or especially if you’ve been told that it’s like not a big deal, ‘ah it’s just reflux’, it actually is a big deal. Or, it can be. So, make sure and you ask your doctor, you know, hey, is there anything else we should do? Should we look in there with a with a camera? And, that those are always good questions to ask,” said Dr. Cartwright.

The TissueCypher lab is going to be crucial in helping many in southwest Georgia detect esophageal cancer sooner and may even lead to research breakthroughs in the future.

Dr. Cartwright says they’re able to conduct TissueCypher tests not only at Tift Regional Medical Center, but Southwell Health in Adel and dozens of physician clinics in surrounding counties.

Brian Roche reporting. 

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