Precision Medicine

What if a treatment could be tailored to your genes? That’s the big idea behind an emerging field called Precision Medicine.

Recent advances in science and technology are making it possible to personalize medicine in a way that improves outcomes. Just as a blood transfusion is matched to the recipient’s blood type, Precision Medicine matches treatments to a patient’s individual characteristics.

For example, a CHI Health nuclear physician uses Precision Medicine techniques to treat pancreatic tumors based on the individual characteristics of that tumor, not as part of a broad protocol. In this case, the patient’s genetic information is used to target therapy so it strikes a tumor’s DNA and breaks apart its strands – thus destroying tumor while preserving surrounding tissues.

While still in the early stages of development, researchers hope Precision Medicine – also called theranostics -- will expand into many areas of healthcare. As an academic health system, CHI Health is committed furthering the development of this exciting new frontier in medicine. 

Learn more about the Precision Medicine Alliance.