Cytelabs, a first-of-its-kind, specialised oncopathology cancer diagnostic service powered by Cytecare Cancer Hospital in Bengaluru, has officially announced the launch of dual in situ hybridisation (DISH) testing for breast cancer patients.

It is the first stand-alone private laboratory in India to make this cutting-edge diagnostic technique accessible for breast cancer patients in the country. This is increasingly getting popular as a preferred method of testing HER2 status in breast cancer.

Approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA), globally DISH is a gamechanger in accurate human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) testing, which is crucial for precision therapy in breast cancer. It significantly reduces the waiting period (HER2 status report within 24-48 hours) and angst among patients and their families.

Elaborating on the need to make this state-of-the-art technology easily accessible in India, Dr Aparna Gangoli, Director, Cytelabs, said, “DISH promises quality results and short turnaround time ensuring that the treatment for breast cancer can be planned and initiated without wasting undue time.The prognostic and predictive implications of HER2 status makes accurate and efficient HER2 testing of paramount importance in characterizing all invasive breast carcinomas.”

Breast cancer cases are prognostically divided into HER2 positive and HER2 negative groups. HER2 positive patients can benefit from targeted therapy with Trastuzumab, a therapeutic agent which blocks the HER2 antigen sites on the HER2 expressing tumour cells and stops them from proliferating further.

Accurate HER2 testing is critical for determining the most suitable treatment for patients. 

Currently, Cytelabs provides easy access to high-quality cancer diagnostic services to oncologists and patients across 65 partner hospitals in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.