There are currently more than 3.8 million breast cancer survivors living in the U.S., yet three out of 10 women with invasive breast cancer will develop metastasis in their lifetime, meaning cancer that has spread to other organs. This is a source of worry for both patients and families.  However, breast cancers that are not fully cured after treatment are often too small to be detected by mammograms or ultrasounds but pose a significant risk.

To address this challenge, the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center at Keck Medicine of USC is launching a major new initiative – The Eileen McGeever Breast Cancer Survivorship Program.  Led, by USC Norris scientists and clinicians, Drs. Bodour Salhia, Irene Kang, and Caryn Lerman, this exciting new program is developing a novel blood test to detect the presence of micro-metastatic residual breast cancer at the end of therapy and develop a recurrence risk classifier that also incorporates additional clinical, environmental, and lifestyle risk factors.

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