Description
There are a number of cancers that are inherited. UAMS Health is able to help alleviate the risk for family members of cancer patients with genetic testing.
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Transcript
I’m Monique Spillman and I’m a Gynecologic Oncologist and the Chief of Gynecologic
Oncology at the Cancer Institute. So one of the most important things here at UAMS is that we’re
able to assess not only the patient, but the family. So a lot of cancers do run in families
and some of those are inherited, so here we’re able to do a comprehensive genetic assessment
and that benefits not only the patient but the family. For the patient herself, she may find
that she’s eligible for additional new therapies and drugs based upon a genetic status and it may
also alter how we look at her for other additional cancers in the future. Genetic testing can benefit
an individual patient in a couple of ways. First it tells them why they got their cancer. It also
may make them eligible for certain types of therapies based upon a genetic mutation
status. It may make them eligible for clinical trials. In addition, for that individual patient
they may have screenings that are changed just a bit based upon an increased genetic risk.
