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Talking Hope Podcast

Welcome to Talking Hope, breakthrough conversations about preventing, treating and curing cancer, brought to you by City of Hope, a National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center offering Orange County’s most advanced cancer care. Hope Lives Here.

How liquid biopsies are reshaping colon cancer detection and treatment

March 10, 2025

In this episode of Talking Hope, we speak with Pashtoon Kasi, M.D., a gastrointestinal cancer specialist and the medical director of GI medical oncology for City of Hope Orange County. Dr. Kasi is working to advance a new screening technology called liquid biopsy, also known as circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) — a blood test that detects small pieces of DNA shed by cancer cells and tumors. The use of ctDNA may play an increasingly pivotal role in earlier cancer screening for at-risk patients and the monitoring of tumor growth. One of the nation’s leading experts in the genomics of cancer and the development of personalized therapies, Dr. Kasi practices at City of Hope Orange County Lennar Foundation Cancer Center in Irvine, the most advanced comprehensive cancer center in Orange County.

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