METHODS FOR DISEASE ASSESSMENT USING DRAIN FLUID

The present invention provides methods for using surgical drainage waste fluid as a means for diagnosing disease, assessing disease progression, predicting metastatic disease, assessing cancer metastasis, disease staging, molecular staging, and assessing metastatic disease. During surgery, suction is used to drain fluids such as blood, tissue fluids, and other bodily fluids away from the surgery site. The suction drainage fluid waste, also called drain fluid, is removed from the patient during the surgical procedure. Because surgical drain fluid is typically viewed as something that is not useful, it is disregarded and thrown away during the surgery. Instead, the invention provides that drain fluid, which is mostly lymphatic fluid and interstitial fluid, is diagnostically rich and contains important information for assessing, diagnosing, and treating disease. The methods of the invention use this waste fluid for the valuable data it contains. Therefore, while a patient is already undergoing surgery for a medical condition, the waste drain fluid is sampled and analyzed for biomarkers or other molecular indicia of disease.