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The Facebook insider building content moderation for the AI era
Liquid biopsies using circulating tumor DNA for surveillance of gastrointestinal cancers in Hispanics: first real-world data report
ESMO Real World Data Digit Oncol. 2026 Jan 14;11:100652. doi: 10.1016/j.esmorw.2025.100652. eCollection 2026 Mar.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Malignant tumors release circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) into the bloodstream, providing insights into tumor-specific mutations and pathways driving cancer progression. ctDNA testing is currently approved as a type of liquid biopsy to monitor disease burden and detect minimal residual disease (MRD). This study aimed to evaluate the adoption of ctDNA testing in a community oncology practice and assess the overall diagnostic performance of ctDNA and its association with disease progression in stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC), as determined by imaging studies.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of 88 patients with gastrointestinal cancers (80 CRC, 5 gastric, 3 esophageal) who underwent ctDNA molecular testing between January 2020 and April 2022. Electronic medical records from patients aged ≥21 years who had two or more ctDNA tests with concurrent imaging studies or a pathology-confirmed CRC, gastric cancer, or esophageal cancer diagnosis were evaluated.
RESULTS: At baseline, 47 (53.4%) patients had negative and 41 (46.6%) had positive results. Most patients had CRC (90.1%). In stage IV CRC, ctDNA was increasing before radiologic progression in all documented cases (100%), with a median lead time of 2.5 months (range 0.5-15 months). In early-stage CRC (I-III), ctDNA preceded radiologic progression in 40% of cases, with a median lead time of 6 months (range 6-10 months).
CONCLUSIONS: Using real-world data, we report the first-time results of the ctDNA testing adoption in a community oncology setting among patients with gastrointestinal cancers, predominantly CRC. Our findings suggest that integration of ctDNA testing may support disease monitoring in routine clinical practice.
PMID:41930304 | PMC:PMC13040887 | DOI:10.1016/j.esmorw.2025.100652
Presentation: Panel: Taking Architecture Out of the Echo Chamber

Andrew Harmel-Law and a panel of expert architects discuss the shifting practice of architecture in 2025. They explain strategies for communicating technical debt to stakeholders, the benefits of decentralized decision-making through ADRs, and the career paths of modern leaders. The panel shares insights on bridging the gap between mobile and backend teams to ensure a holistic system.
By Andrew Harmel-Law, Cat Morris, Diana Montalion, Shana Dacres-Lawrence, Vanessa Formicola, Elena Stojmilova, Peter Hunter