What a Genetic Cancer Risk Assessment is
It’s a phrase that has been coined to describe the whole process. We don’t want to call it just genetic testing because we really don’t want the testing to happen in a vacuum. The genetic cancer risk assessment is an overarching term for the whole process.
So going through that personal and family history, assessing what testing is appropriate, then providing education to the patients saying, “Okay, this is what we see in your family. That makes us think about these genes.” These are the implications of it and if there’s something in these genes the cancer risks, what it means for you and your family, the screening recommendations we are going to make if we find something in these genes, how the test works, insurance coverage, all of those things.
And then blood draw, send it to a specialty laboratory, proofread the genes. It takes about a month to two months to get the answer back, and then it’s coming back to the table to go over the results and say, “Okay, this is what it is. Here is how we take care of you. Here is how we take care of your family members.” So genetic cancer risk assessment encompasses that whole process.