Innovative Testing Techniques for Early Disease Detection

What’s better than treating disease? Stopping it before it progresses or even occurs. That’s where early disease detection comes in. Identifying and diagnosing disease early helps you to address issues before they worsen, allowing for better outcomes and decreased financial burden in the long-term. That is why it is so important that early disease detection be incorporated into your personalized healthcare goals.

How exactly can you incorporate early disease detection into your medical care? Professionals and executives that prioritize their health often opt for concierge medicine and executive health programs to do so. These services prioritize cutting-edge testing to allow for early disease detection and better overall wellness.

The Paradigm Shift in Early Disease Detection

With advancements in medicine and science, we are seeing a shift in healthcare from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. Traditionally, medicine focused on managing symptoms and disease after they already occurred. For example, if someone develops diabetes, a healthcare provider would work with the patient to treat the diabetes and control blood sugar. Proactive prevention, however, would start far earlier. In this instance, early disease detection would have identified the individual as high-risk for diabetes years prior. In doing so, the patient could have implemented lifestyle modifications and preventative measures to avoid diabetes altogether.

Technology is what has enabled us to begin practicing proactive healthcare. Advanced diagnostic tools have equipped healthcare providers with the ability to identify disease early with immense precision and accuracy. For example, biomarkers and predictive algorithms can provide insights into one’s health risks, enabling timely intervention and preventing disease progression. In doing so, we can not only improve outcomes but also minimize the costs associated with healthcare.

Innovative Testing Techniques

There are many different tools and technologies we can use to detect disease early. Let’s review some of the key techniques healthcare providers use.

Liquid Biopsies

Traditional medicine uses biopsies to directly test tumor tissue, evaluating the tumor cells in a lab to see if they are cancerous. Biopsies are the “gold standard” for diagnosing cancer, however, they are typically invasive, may require anesthesia, and carry some inherent risks (e.g., discomfort, infection). Liquid biopsies are different in that they involve only a blood test. Liquid biopsies test the blood for pieces of the tumor, specifically:

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs): This is a cancer cell originating from the tumor that is in the bloodstream.
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA): This is a fragment of DNA originating from the tumor cell that is in the bloodstream.

Finding CTCs and ctDNA in the blood would indicate the presence of a cancerous tumor. Additionally, these tumor fragments can give insights into the genetic information of the cancer which can help dictate treatment.

The benefits of liquid biopsies are that they are non-invasive, enable early-stage detection, and allow for monitoring of disease progression. Though it is a relatively new test, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved liquid biopsies for a wide range of indications, and more are coming (1). Liquid biopsies can be particularly helpful in early disease detection and personalized health plans in concierge care.

Advanced Genomic Screening

Whole-genome sequencing and targeted genetic panels involve looking into your unique genes to understand what health conditions and risks are encoded within your DNA. Findings from your personal DNA can inform on what diseases you are at higher risk of developing, such as with cardiovascular conditions or diabetes. In doing so, we can implement early and frequent screenings to enable earlier detection or to minimize your risk of getting the disease. This can also allow for earlier intervention, helping to prevent disease altogether or prevent it from developing further.

Advanced genomic screening is essential to personalized treatment plans. Because your own genetic makeup is unique to you, it can provide valuable, tailored insights that can inform your personalized treatment plan.

AI-Powered Diagnostics

Artificial intelligence (AI) has revolutionized practically every industry, including healthcare. Its use cases extend to diagnostics, where fields such as dermatology and radiology are utilizing AI. Machine learning algorithms can assess imaging, like skin scans and X-rays, with high levels of accuracy and precision. Oftentimes, AI can even detect abnormalities that even seasoned healthcare providers can’t.

Examples of AI in diagnostics include the ability to analyze images to diagnose lung cancer or melanoma or using predictive modeling to assess cardiovascular risk. We can even use AI-powered diagnostics and predictive modeling to provide an early risk assessment for high-performing individuals.

Microbiome Testing

In recent years, science has begun to elucidate the importance of our gut microbiome in dictating our overall health. Our gut health can influence almost every corner of our health, from our immune system to our mental wellbeing. Thus, microbiome testing can give us insights into both your current health status as well as your risks.

Certain gut imbalances are linked to systemic disease. By identifying these imbalances early with testing, we can tailor diet and supplement plants for disease prevention. Thus, microbiome testing can be an integral component to early disease detection.

Advanced Cardiovascular Testing

Traditional cholesterol checks just aren’t enough anymore when it comes to assessing your cardiovascular risk. To really get the full picture, you need a panel of advanced tests, including coronary calcium scans, advanced lipid panels, and inflammatory markers. In doing so, you can identify the early signs of cardiovascular issues. This is especially important for executives who are prone to stress and cardiovascular problems. Having insights from this testing can help guide interventions, preventing heart disease, and increasing longevity.

Multiomics Testing (Integration of Genomics, Proteomics, and Metabolomics)

You may have heard of genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, but have you ever heard of multiomics? Multiomics integrates data from each of these areas, combining information from:

Genomics. Genomics involves the structure, function, and editing of someone’s DNA.
Epigenomics. Epigenomics analyzes heritable changes in gene expression caused by external factors not involving your DNA.
Proteomics. Proteomics focuses on protein expression, which can inform our understanding of cellular function and help us predict someone’s response to therapy.
Transcriptomics. Transcriptomics examines RNA transcripts that your genome produces.

By integrating each of these studies, this comprehensive approach allows providers to achieve a high-level understanding of how our molecular makeup contributes to disease. Multiomics is an important component of comprehensive testing for a holistic health profile. Additionally, it has applications in concierge care for creating individualized wellness strategies.

Benefits of These Innovations in Executive Medicine

These advancements in medicine, specifically in testing, have widespread applications in preventing disease. In particular, these innovations offer:

Efficiency for Executives: Innovative testing methods minimize disruption to the busy schedules of executives, allowing for rapid, accurate testing.
Customization: Perhaps the biggest benefit of these testing methods is the ability to individualize treatment plans. Tailored treatments and interventions based on individual biomarkers can improve patient outcomes and overall health.
Long-Term Impact: Disease, if untreated and uncontrolled, can have lifelong impacts on your health and even impact your lifespan. Early disease testing enables greater longevity and peak performance for high-level professionals.

The Role of Concierge Medicine in Delivering These Solutions

Standard medical care still has a ways to go, oftentimes still approaching disease management with a reactive strategy, meaning they treat symptoms as the disease occurs and progresses. As such, these innovative testing strategies may not be available with standard medical care, limiting your ability to detect disease and intervene early.

Concierge medicine, on the other hand, can provide you access to these cutting-edge diagnostics. Concierge medicine services have exclusive partnerships with labs and research institutions for innovative testing, and they integrate these services throughout your care.

Using concierge medicine, these innovative testing methods can be supplemented by one-on-one consultations with your provider. During these consultations, your provider will interpret the complex results, identifying your disease risk and providing individualized plans of care based on the results.

The Future of Early Disease Detection in Personalized Care

Aside from the technologies that already exist, there are several other trends emerging to further accelerate and enhance disease detection, including wearables, remote monitoring, and continuous health tracking. Additionally, as AI continues to advance, diagnostics and disease prediction modalities will become more sophisticated. With the evolution of early disease detection, concierge medicine will remain at the forefront, combining technology and human expertise for unique and tailored treatment plans.

Interested in early disease detection? Proactive health management will be key, utilizing innovative testing techniques to address your unique needs and circumstances. To start taking a more active role in your health, consider concierge medicine or advanced diagnostic options to advance your healthcare journey.

References

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/23992-liquid-biopsy

Author

David J. Bauder, PA-C David Bauder, PA-C, is a certified physician assistant and the assistant medical director at Weight Loss and Vitality in Manassas and Alexandria, Virginia, Washington, DC; and Gaithersburg, MD. He enjoys helping patients optimize their physical and mental health to improve their overall well-being. He earned his physician assistant degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Afterward, he gained admission into the reputable graduate program for physician assistant studies at the University of Nebraska Health Science Center in Omaha. David has over 26 years of experience working as a physician assistant. He’s practiced in podiatry, family medicine, emergency medicine, general surgery, urgent care, and functional medicine.