Multi-Cancer Early Detection in Primary Care

Target Audience

This course will provide clinicians with strategies to integrate MCED into the primary care setting in an efficient way to improve patient outcomes.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this activity, learners should be able to:

• Review the current epidemiology of cancer incidence and rates of screening in the United States
• Describe how blood-based cfDNA is used for MCED
• Discuss current and emerging clinical data on the advantages, disadvantages, accuracy, utility, and cost-effectiveness
• Integrate MCED and patient counseling into primary care setting

Program Overview

Early detection is an essential step in reducing the burden of cancer. Identifying cancer at its earliest stages improves outcomes by allowing therapy to begin sooner, reducing treatment costs and complexity, minimizing morbidity, and improving mortality and quality of life. Detecting a tumor at a stage when it can be surgically excised or treated with simpler drug regimens can result in 5-year survival rates of more than 90%, while average 5-year survival after detection of a late-stage tumor is only 26%. Limitations of current screening methods include the “one organ at a time” approach, which requires use of different (and often expensive) modalities for each type of cancer. Multi-Cancer Early Detection (MCED) tests can analyze blood samples to detect genetic signals from tumors at the earliest stages of their development. These tests, also known as liquid biopsies, have been shown to efficiently identify more than 50 types of cancer at earlier stages, with a high degree of sensitivity and specificity, and can even identify the specific organ in which the tumor is located.

This webcast was recorded at the Emerging Challenges and Clinical Updates Live Virtual Broadcast and is being used with the permission of the presenters.

Physician Accreditation Statement

The National Association for Continuing Education is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Physician Credit Designation

The National Association for Continuing Education designates this enduring activity for a maximum of 1.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ . Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

National Association for Continuing Education is accredited by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners as an approved provider of nurse practitioner continuing education. Provider number: 121222. This activity is approved for 1.0 contact hour (which includes 0 hours of pharmacology).

Accredited education provided by the National Association for Continuing Education (NACE) must demonstrate balance, independence, objectivity, and scientific rigor. All individuals in a position to influence content of NACE accredited education, are required to disclose all financial relationships with ineligible companies within the previous 24-month period, regardless of relevance to the education. All relevant financial relationships and potential conflicts of interest have been mitigated.

NACE defines ineligible companies as those whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.

The faculty have the following relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies:

Charles P. Vega has disclosed the following financial relationships:

Consultant: GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson