Risk of Recurrent Colorectal Cancer Following Definitive Therapy
Yoshiaki Nakamura, MD, PhD, discusses how the use of tissue-free circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis for detecting minimal residual disease (MRD) can enhance the prediction of recurrence in stage II to III colorectal cancer (CRC), particularly when tumor specimens are limited.
1. Please briefly discuss the prevalence of stage II to III colon cancer recurrence after definitive therapy and the advantages of MRD detection through tissue-free ctDNA analysis, especially in cases of limitedtumor specimen availability.
a. What are some challenges to accuratelystratifying the risk of recurrence among patients with resectable stage II to III CRC?
b. Compared with tissue-based biopsy and molecular profiling, what are the short- and long-term logisticalbenefits of serial, cell-free ctDNA epigenomic assays in patients with CRC who are at risk of recurrent disease after initial definitive therapy?
