Åke Borg
Principal investigator
BRCAsearch : written pre-test information and BRCA1/2 germline mutation testing in unselected patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer
Author
Summary, in English
Purpose: To evaluate a simplified method of pre-test information and germline BRCA1/2 mutation testing. Methods: In a prospective, single-arm study, comprehensive BRCA1/2 testing was offered to unselected patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer at three hospitals in south Sweden (BRCAsearch, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02557776). Pre-test information was provided by a standardized invitation letter, but the patients could contact a genetic counselor for telephone genetic counseling if they felt a need for that. Noncarriers were informed about the test result through a letter. Mutation carriers were contacted and offered an appointment for in-person post-test genetic counseling. Results: During the period Feb 2, 2015–Aug 26, 2016, eight hundred and eighteen patients were invited to participate in the study. Through Jan 31, 2017, five hundred and forty-two (66.2%) of them consented to analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2. Eleven pathogenic mutations were found (BRCA1, n = 2; BRCA2, n = 9), corresponding to a mutation prevalence of 2.0%. Six out of 11 fulfilled the Swedish BRCA testing criteria, and 9 out of 11 fulfilled the NCCN testing criteria. None of the BRCA-associated tumors were of the luminal A-like subtype. Very few patients contacted us for telephone genetic counseling or practical questions, suggesting that a majority felt that the written pre-test information was sufficient for them to make a decision on testing. Conclusions: Streamlining the process of pre-test information, genetic testing, and delivery of test results was feasible and was associated with an uptake of genetic testing in 2/3 of the breast cancer patients.
Department/s
- Tumor microenvironment
- Familial Breast Cancer
- Division of Clinical Genetics
- BioCARE: Biomarkers in Cancer Medicine improving Health Care, Education and Innovation
- Breastcancer-genetics
Publishing year
2018
Language
English
Pages
117-126
Publication/Series
Breast Cancer Research and Treatment
Volume
168
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Springer
Topic
- Cancer and Oncology
Keywords
- Breast cancer
- Counseling
- Genetic testing
- Unselected
Status
Published
Research group
- Familial Breast Cancer
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0167-6806