How Minimal Residual Disease Assessment Emerged as an Important Tool for Blood Cancers

There’s currently a discussion within the medical community about how much of a patient’s DNA must be sequenced and reviewed before a patient can be accurately described as cancer free. This discussion has evolved over the years largely alongside the evolution of sequencing technology. Previously, when it was difficult to sequence an individual’s DNA, the threshold for declaring a patient cancer free was much higher. As technologies develop that make it easier and more cost effective for physicians to sequence their patients’ DNA, the threshold for acceptable review has lowered.