The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted blood tests that provide consumers a way to be proactive in their health, including the multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test Mercy offers. Dr. Jay Carlson, director of Mercy clinical research, said that when patients request the MCED test, they are referred to Mercy’s Center for Precision Medicine to be sure the test is appropriate.
The article highlights how many people have requested the test through Mercy’s online portal, more than 3,500, and how many were referred by their doctors, 1,061. As of late March, Mercy had ordered 1,079 tests for patients who met the age and risk criteria. Of those, there were nine positive tests, two of which proved to be false positives after further testing.
Carlson said, “The opportunity to intervene and change the course of the disease is what is intriguing and exciting.” He shared that he took the test himself because his father had been diagnosed with five different types of cancer. He tested negative and said it was “reassuring.”
