Turnaround Times

We understand the importance of timely results which is crucial for cancer patient management.

Result turnaround times for our assays are class-leading, ranging from approximately 4 to 14 working days from specimen receipt in our laboratory.

Estimated turnaround times for some of our assays upon receiving the specimen in our laboratory –

  1. OncoStrands™ Essential Panel – within 5 working days
  2. OncoStrands™ DNA 68 Panel – within 10 working days
  3. OncoStrands™ Extended Panel – within 10 working days
  4. OncoStrands™ Comprehensive Fusion Panel – within 10 working days
  5. OncoStrands™ Comprehensive Panel – within 14 working days

Consistency

LifeStrands participates in a variety of national and international Quality Assurance Programs, not only to satisfy the conditions for fulfilling on-going accreditation and compliance requirements but also to maintain the highest standards and reliability of our test results.

We are currently enrolled in the following Quality Assurance Programs – 

  1. RCPA QAP
  2. CAP PT program, and
  3. EMQN 

Cost

We use currently available Medicare rebateable items for all types of solid tumour testing offered through our laboratory. Given below is the list of Medicare items and tests utilised against each item, for which there is no out of pocket cost for eligible patients –

  1. NSCLC – Medicare # 73437 (DNA variants : EGFR, BRAF, KRAS and MET; fusions: ALK, ROS1, RET, NTRK1/2/3), Essential Combined panel
  2. NSCLC – Medicare # 73438 (EGFR, BRAF, KRAS, MET), Essential DNA panel
  3. NSCLC – Medicare # 73351 (EGFR T790), Essential DNA panel
  4. NSCLC – Medicare # 73439 (ALK, ROS1, RET, NTRK1/2/3), Essential Fusion panel
  5. Colorectal cancer – Medicare # 73338 (KRAS, NRAS), Essential DNA panel
  6. Melanoma – Medicare # 73336 (BRAF), Essential DNA panel
  7. Glioma (Including Glioneuronal Tumour, Glioblastoma) – Medicare # 73429 (IDH1/2, 1p19q co-deletion, others), Neuro-oncology panel
  8. Glioblastoma – Medicare # 73373, MGMT methylation
  9. Secretory ca breast/salivary – Medicare # 73433 (NTRK 1/2/3 fusions), Essential RNA panel
  10. Tumour agnostic <18 yrs (Paediatric) – Medicare # 73433 (NTRK 1/2/3 fusions), Essential RNA panel
  11. Prostate – Medicare # 73303 (BRCA1/2), Extended panel
  12. Ovarian – Medicare # 73301 (BRCA1/2), Extended panel
  13. Ovarian – Medicare # 73307 (HRD, BRCA1/2), Comprehensive + HRD panel
  14. Sarcoma – Medicare # 73376, Comprehensive Fusion panel

Please contact LifeStrands Genomics Australia for tests that attract out-of-pocket fees.

Quality

Our laboratory is full accredited for compliance with NPAAC standards and ISO 15189.

We are the first Australian laboratory to receive full accreditation by the College of American Pathologists (CAP), and the first Australian laboratory to hold dual NATA and CAP accreditations.