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Most cancer diagnoses are made based on images. You have to see a tumor, or compare images of it over time, to determine its level of threat. Ultrasounds, MRIs, and X-rays are all common types of images that radiologists use to collect information about a patient and perhaps cause a doctor to recommend a biopsy. Once that section of the tumor is under the microscope, pathologists learn more about the tumor. To gather even more information, a doctor may run a genetic test and determine that the patient has a genetic anomaly. This genetic anomaly may have a precise match to an effective therapy thanks to recent advances in precision medicine.

Yet another way we learn about cancer in humans is through small animal research and other forms of precision medicine. Images from small animals allow detailed study of biological processes, disease progression, and response to therapy, with the potential to provide a natural bridge to human disease. Due to differences in how data is collected and stored about animals and humans, however, the bridge is man-made.

Each of these types of information is an image diagnostic images are at a different scale, from a different scientific discipline. A large-scale image like an X-ray may be almost life-size. Slices of tumors are smaller still. Like genes and proteins, you must put them on a slide under a microscope to see them. Not surprisingly, each of these scales requires specialized knowledge to handle and interpret them. While complementary, each specialist comes from a different scientific discipline.

Yet another way we learn about cancer in humans is through small animal research. Images from small animals allow detailed study of biological processes, disease progression, and response to therapy, with the potential to provide a natural bridge to human disease in the clinical environment. If  If you were the patient, wouldn't you want your medical team to benefit from an integration of all of these images?

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