LSU Researchers Piloting Gene-Specific Cancer Treatments

The LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans is offering a possible breakthrough treatment for those diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

Eileen Mederos is the program manager of the clinical trial, and she says participants will receive a personalized medicine approach based upon the genetic makeup of their cancer.

"This is maybe a better way to treat cancer as opposed to a blanketed approach," Mederos said, "because not everyone responds to the same drug."

Mederos says the LSU Health Sciences Center is one of a just a few sites in the country to offer this new way of treating of lung cancer. She says it's a targeted therapy based on the genetic changes fueling the growth of the tumor.

"They would receive treatment based off of the genetic testing," Mederos said.

Mederos says researchers are partnering with Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center — which has several locations in Southeast Louisiana — to offer this cutting-edge treatment. She says lung cancer patients can call the LSU Health Sciences Center to participate in the clinical trial.

"Eventually it will be offered across the country, but for now we are one of the first five sites," Mederos said.

For more information call Eileen Mederos at (504) 407-7395.