This episode kicks off Season 5 of the Believe Big podcast, and Ivelisse welcomes back Dr. Lucas Tims of Root Causes Medical Clinic to untangle the confusing world of cancer testing.

Dr. Tims unpacks chemosensitivity tests like RGCC and Datar/OncoStat, including real criticisms around consistency and a key blind spot: lab dishes can't recreate the body's tumor microenvironment, so immune-modulating therapies like mistletoe or IV vitamin C can look ineffective even when they're not.

He explains where these tests still shine, especially for narrowing down later-line chemo or targeted options. He then draws a clear line between monitoring and treatment selection: Signatera tracks ctDNA/MRD after surgery to watch for recurrence, while Tempus profiles tumor genomics to surface druggable targets like PD-L1 for immunotherapy. He also introduces Astron Health as a second-opinion, tumor-board-style review, and Celcuity for pinpointing true driver pathways, with relevance reaching beyond solid tumors into blood cancers.

Throughout, Dr. Tims returns to one grounding principle: no single test tells the whole story. He encourages listeners to work with their clinicians and pair tumor testing with integrative "terrain" testing, inflammation, immune function, toxins, hormones, gut health, and stress, for the fullest picture of their cancer.

Learn more about Dr. Lucas Tims and Root Causes Medical Clinic here.
Substack: rootcauses.substack.com
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Suggested Resources:

• BOOK: The Metabolic Approach to Cancer by Dr. Nasha Winters and Jess Higgins Kelley
• About RGCC Cancer Testing and Oncostat
• Datar Cancer Genetics website, home page
• Signatera
• Tempus
• Astron Health
  
  

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