https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/bxuxys/gallerifinal_-_6_21_22_1106_AM8ruk9.mp3
EPISODE SUMMARY:
A business owner, founder of Ms. Medicine, and board-certified internist, Dr. Lisa Larkin is a women’s health expert using her organization and expertise to help educate and save women’s lives. In today’s episode, we sat down with Dr. Larkin to discuss the Galleri blood test, how it works, what the results mean, and who is eligible to receive it.
First, we asked Dr. Larkin to explain to us what the Galleri test is. The Galleri test is a blood test that is revolutionizing screenings and detection of cancer. With cancer as the second leading cause of death in the U.S., screenings are vital for detection and treatment. However, only five types of cancer have screenings: colon, prostate, lung, breast, and cervical. The Galleri tests for over 50 different types of cancer, including types without other screening forms, by detecting fragments of tumor DNA in the bloodstream and identifying where in the body the DNA is coming from. While the test is not yet at a place where it can be accessible to the entire population, it helps and will hopefully grow to continue to help early cancer detection. Since the test is not yet available to everyone, doctors are still discussing who to give the test to and the importance of ensuring the most at risk people have access to it. Ms. Medicine, Dr. Larkin’s healthcare organization, has been offering the test since February to people over the age of 50 or younger patients with a family history or who carry a hereditary cancer mutation. Those who take the Galleri test will either recive a result of “no cancer signal detected” or “cancer signal detected” with specific details about where in the body it was detected. There are not many false negative results, however, as with many tests, there are chances of false positives, so it’s important that people continue to have regular cancer screenings along with a Galleri test.
For taking the Galleri test, the test is performed in an office and the results are shipped to a lab in California for evaluation. While the test is currently $1000, making it difficult to distribute to everyone, Dr. Larkin noted how that price differs from her own experience testing for cancer. When she was diagnosed with cancer, she spent $4000 on genetic testing. She’s happy to see the decrease in price and hopes that as the technology continues to progress and grow, that the price will become more accessible to patients. We also asked Dr. Larkin about what they do if someone receives a positive test result on the Galleri Test. She said that for those whose test results are positive, they perform a CT scan or MRI on the area that fragments of tumor DNA was detected. If imaging does not find anything, doctors wait six months and perform the Galleri test again to determine whether it was a false positive or if cancer cells are still there.
When asked about the detection of breast cancer with the Galleri test, Dr. Larkin spoke about how the Galleri test will not immediately detect early-stage breast cancer, so it’s important that women continue to receive other testing and screenings for early prevention and detection. Women who carry cancer mutations, have dense breasts or with a higher chance of breast cancer should be screened more aggressively and more often. Dr. Larkin also discussed the other tests and screenings that women should be having for their health. She said tests such as mammograms, pap smears, and colonoscopies should be kept up to date. Those with histories of smoking should receive lung cancer screenings, and anyone with a family history of cancer should get genetic testing. For midlife women and preventative testing, Dr. Larkin told us that there is not enough focus on preventive screenings, early detection, and treatments for older women. Women should have access to the proper information and feel like they can go into their doctor and ask for specific tests and treatments they believe they may need or want to know more information about.
Finally, we asked Dr. Larkin about precision medicine. She explained that precision medicine is a movement that strives to individualize medical treatment. Rather than treating everyone the same way, specific information about patients should be used to tailor their therapy to their needs. Since not everyone responds to diseases and medicine the same, their treatments should not be the exact same. Precision medicine advocates for disease prevention that takes in genetic and environmental components when crafting prevention and treatment plans for cancer and other diseases.
Dr. Lisa Larkin
Trained at Yale, and the University of Chicago, Dr. Lisa Larkin is a board-certified internist, business owner, and entrepreneur practicing internal medicine and women’s health in Cincinnati, Ohio, since 1991. She is Founder and CEO of Ms.Medicine, a, national healthcare organization whose mission is to advance healthcare for women through its concierge primary care model and through its education arm, Ms.MedEd, which provides evidence-based information to clinicians and consumers on the complex health needs of women. She is President and Owner of Lisa Larkin, MD, and Associates, an independent, multi-specialty internal medicine and women’s health practice offering Direct Primary Care and concierge primary care. Additionally, she is the Founder and Executive Director of the Cincinnati Sexual Health Consortium, a nonprofit organization formed to improve sexual health and wellness for persons in Cincinnati.
She formerly served as Associate Professor and Division Director of Midlife Women’s Health and Primary Care at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and as the Director of the UC Health Women’s Center. She is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a certified menopause clinician (NCMP), a Fellow of and past member of the Board of Directors of ISSWSH (International Society or the Study of Women’s Sexual Health), and currently serves as the Treasurer on the Board of Trustees of NAMS (North American Menopause Society).
Dr. Larkin is passionate about raising the standard of care for women and advancing evidence-based women’s healthcare. Considered a national expert in menopause management, sexual medicine and breast cancer risk assessment and prevention, and committed to advancing evidence-based medicine, she is a devoted clinician educator, and lectures frequently at physician CME programs and educational events on women’s health topics. Dr. Larkin is also well published in the area of menopause and sexual medicine. She participated in the development of and is co-author of several recent important manuscripts, including the ISSWSH consensus guidelines on the identification and evaluation of sexual concerns in women (Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2019), the ISSWSH process of care for the management of hypoactive sexual desire disorder (Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2018), and the NAMS/ISSWSH consensus recommendations for the management of genitourinary syndrome of menopause in women with or at high risk of breast cancer (Menopause 2018). Dr. Larkin also devotes considerable time to women’s health consumer education and is a frequent community lecturer and expert media resource on various women’s health topics. She is also committed to women’s health advocacy. She spoke to the FDA in 2015 as part of a group advocating for the approval of flibanserin, the first FDA-approved medication for female sexual dysfunction, and again in 2016 as part of a group advocating for the label change of local vaginal estrogen. Additionally, she serves as an advisor to several pharmaceutical, consumer product and device companies
Named one of Cincinnati’s “Top Docs” every year since 1991 (by Cincinnati Magazine), and winner of the 2019 Health Care Entrepreneur Hero Award by the Cincinnati Business Courier, she is recognized by her peers, patients, members of the community, and the media as an exceptional provider, advocate, educator and innovator and health care disruptor.
In this episode, we discuss…
- [0:01] Bossa Bars
- [0:46] Guest Introduction
- [6:37] Start of Interview
- [7:23] Galleri Blood Test
- [13:10] How to Access the Galleri Blood Test
- [15:04] Galleri Test Results
- [19:12] The Process of Getting the Galleri Blood Test
- [21:45] Getting a Positive Test Result
- [26:03] Galleri Test and Breast Cancer
- [32:08] The Best Tests to Keep Up With
- [39:50] Precision Medicine
- [43:22] Closing Thoughts
- [45:02] Outro
Useful Resources:
Lisa’s Website I [https://lisalarkinmd.com/]
Lisa’s LinkedIn I [https://www.linkedin.com/company/lisa-larkin-md-&-associates/]
Lisa’s Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/LisaLarkinMD/]
Lisa’s Instagram I [https://www.instagram.com/lisalarkinmd/]
Lisa’s Twitter I [https://twitter.com/larkindpc]
Lisa’s YouTube Channel I [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKCagOTMKgVlGwz2EF1_T3g/videos]
TRY BOSSA BARS FOR MENOPAUSE AND USE CODE “HOTCOOL10” FOR 10% OFF AT https://bossabars.com/ !
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Mail I [[email protected]]
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Facebook I [https://www.facebook.com/hotflashescooltopics]
Twitter I [https://twitter.com/CoolFlashes]
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