Fast, coordinated answers for patients with positive MCED results
A multicancer early detection (MCED) test is a type of blood test that looks for many types of cancer at the same time. This promising new screening technology, also called liquid biopsy, may allow healthcare professionals to discover cancer before symptoms appear. If they are found earlier, many cancers can be treated more successfully and with less impact on people with cancer.
While there are currently just a few MCED tests available for cancer screening, several more are on the way, each with different characteristics. Each test is designed to detect very small cancer signals. However, it's important to note that a positive result is not a diagnosis of cancer. Rather, a positive result means there is a high risk of cancer that should prompt further investigation. Also, because the tests are so sensitive, they produce a relatively high rate of false-positive results. That means the test indicates cancer might be present, but further testing does not detect cancer. One Mayo Clinic study revealed that 1 in 4 positive MCED tests was a false positive.
Given the complex nature of MCED tests, evaluating positive results requires unique and evolving knowledge and may require additional testing. In many healthcare settings, the process of searching for a cancer diagnosis or ruling it out can be overwhelming, often taking several weeks or even a month or more to sort out. That long diagnostic odyssey and period of uncertainty can have a profound impact on the person experiencing it and on loved ones.
The Mayo Clinic Multicancer Detection Clinic provides accurate answers faster.
Mayo Clinic's multicancer detection benefits
- Faster answers, typically in a matter of days instead of weeks, which helps reduce anxiety and stress.
- The latest knowledge through a team of clinical experts who have devoted themselves to bringing the best science in this evolving field to patients. This knowledge and team approach avoids needless testing by ordering the right test at the right time for the right indication.
- Earlier cancer diagnosis when treatment is most effective and often less invasive.
- Opportunity to participate in research studies that help advance the understanding of early cancer detection.
- Supportive, team-based care from world-class experts in diverse fields of cancer care who put patients' needs at the center of all decisions.
When a person comes to the Multicancer Detection Clinic with a positive MCED test, our experts begin a coordinated effort to craft a highly individualized plan of testing. A dedicated team of internists, radiologists, pathologists and cancer care specialists, who are experts at navigating the subtleties of the various MCED tests, focus on the person's results.
If the team confirms you have a specific type of cancer, you have access to the strengths of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, the only National Cancer Institute-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center with three locations in the U.S.
Your personalized care will include many specialties working together at the same time, including:
- Coordination of your care by an expert in consultative medicine who guides and oversees your care as you access other specialists and procedures.
- Advanced imaging and endoscopic procedures to help pinpoint a cancer signal and obtain a definitive diagnosis.
- Consultation with the cancer care specialist most suited to your condition once you have a diagnosis.
- Evaluation by experts in the Department of Clinical Genomics to screen for inherited gene changes that may influence treatment.
- Additional testing of biopsied tissue to look for tumor weaknesses to target in your treatment plan.
- Tumor boards to discuss diagnostic and treatment plans with multidisciplinary input across all relevant specialties with real-time review of test results.
This multipronged approach not only can provide a precision diagnosis faster, it also can provide key information to help tailor a treatment plan that has the best chances to be effective.
If initial testing comes back negative, your team won't give up. The team will focus tremendous resources, including emerging risk prediction tools, to tailor a surveillance plan to your specific cancer risk. The plan can give you peace of mind that if cancer is discovered, it will be caught as early as possible.
Your care
By the time you arrive at the Multicancer Detection Clinic, our specialists will know your medical history, MCED results and any other test results you may have. Specialists typically preschedule additional testing to occur soon after the initial MCED doctor visit.
Your consultation typically will be offered within days of your request. It will likely include:
- Comprehensive medical history, family history and symptom review.
- Physical exam.
- On-site state-of-the-art imaging, such as CT scans, ultrasounds, MRI scans and any necessary blood tests.
- Full complement of genetic testing, as needed.
- World-class interventional radiologists and surgeons to assist with biopsies, when indicated.
- Timely consultation with relevant cancer care specialists and with every necessary specialty represented at Mayo Clinic.