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(transmitted by T.V. Shankey)
"I have been asked to assemble a compendium updating the status of
clinical ploidy analysis. All the literature I can find deals with the
use of ploidy analysis, including DI and proliferative fraction in all
its flavors, in predicting prognosis. Despite several literature
searches, I have been unable to find controlled studies which provide
data demonstrating that any change in patient treatment based on ploidy
analysis produces any improvement in patient outcome such as overall or
disease-free survival.
This is clearly a raising of consciousness for all of us involved in
clinical ploidy analysis. But it is also an issue that we need to deal
with since the third party payers are beginning to do their own outcomes
research. As part of this effort, they are also demanding proof of
efficacy and cost-effectiveness before compensating any procedures.
Needless to say, receiving compensation in a capitated environment for
laboratory procedures will require even more compelling documentation of
efficacy.
I would appreciate your referring me to any published studies which
document a favorable impact on patient outcome (not just prediction of
prognosis) as a result of ploidy analysis.
Thanks in advance for your help
Chester J. Herman, M.D., Ph.D.
Director, Pathology
Grady Health System
Atlanta, GA"
[And that, folks, is flow, image, molecular and all other pathology here
in the last quarter of the 20th century! TVS]
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