Test detects main tumor of spread cancer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 13 (UPI) -- Officials of a diagnostics company say Palmetto GBA, the contractor that administers Medicare in California will cover a test to detect metastatic cancer.

Pathwork Diagnostics Inc. officials say the Tissue of Origin Test helps identify the primary tumor in difficult to diagnose cancer cases such as those that are metastatic -- having spread from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ -- or with a complex clinical history.

"Cancers are best treated according to their respective sites of origin and tissue type," Dr. Karo K. Arzoo, an oncologist at the Roy and Patricia Disney Family Cancer Center and Chair of Hematology and Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif., says in a statement. "This is true even when the disease is metastatic at the time of diagnosis."

An accurate diagnosis of the primary tumor site helps the physician choose the best treatment and because all Tissue of Origin test specimens are processed in the Pathwork Diagnostics Laboratory in California, the decision by Palmetto means that the test will be covered for Medicare patients across the United States, officials at Pathwork say.

The Tissue of Origin Test is the only U.S. Food and Drug Administration-cleared molecular diagnostic test for tissue of origin, Pathwork officials say.

More information on the test is at: pathworkdx.com.