Press release
Study Finds Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants Would Alter Patient Care Decisions Based on DecisionDx®-Melanoma Test Results
In a survey of nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs/PAs), 82.4% of respondents who use DecisionDx-Melanoma in clinical practice stated that a
About this update from Castle Biosciences, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nIn a survey of nurse practitioners and physician assistants (NPs/PAs), 82.4% of respondents who use DecisionDx-Melanoma in clinical practice stated that a high-risk test result in a thin melanoma tumor (≤1mm) would impact their patient treatment plan; similarly, 81.3% of test users would alter treatment plans based on a high-risk test result in Stage 1 tumors\n\n\n FRIENDSWOOD, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nCastle Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSTL), a company improving health through innovative tests that guide patient care, today announced the publication of a study in the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO) that assessed the viewpoints of NPs/PAs toward the clinical use of DecisionDx®-Melanoma in patients diagnosed with cutaneous melanoma. The study found that more than 90% of the NPs/PAs who completed a survey about DecisionDx-Melanoma believe that prognostic (i.e., risk-stratification) information about a patient’s melanoma is valuable and improves patient care. The study is available here.\n\n\n“Historically, patients with thin or Stage 1 tumors would be considered to be at the lowest risk of metastasis or recurrence, based on traditional staging factors alone,” said Renata Block, MMS, PA-C, first study author and board-certified physician assistant at Advanced Dermatology & Aesthetic Medicine, LLC in Chicago. “As the study data affirmed, the personalized, clinically actionable results provided by DecisionDx-Melanoma can significantly impact the treatment plans of patients with melanoma, particularly in the 'low-risk' patient population when their test results indicate aggressive tumor biology that would place them at a higher risk of a poor outcome.”\n\n\nStudy methods and findings:\n\n\n\nNPs and PAs who attended one of three selected conferences in 2020 and 2021 were asked to complete an 18-question online survey about their viewpoints and clinical use of DecisionDx-Melanoma.\n\n\n\nOf the 369 NPs/PAs who completed the survey, 176 (47.7%) reported using the DecisionDx-Melanoma test in the prior 12 months.\n\n\n\n90.5% of the respondents felt that comprehensive prognostic testing, such as with DecisionDx-Melanoma, improves patient care.\n\n\n\nThe majority of DecisionDx-Melanoma test users stated that they used the test results to determine follow-up schedules and referrals (78.4%), inform treatment deci...