To help cancer care providers and others stay current on the impact of genetic discoveries on cancer care, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has published an expanded Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Breast, Ovarian, Pancreatic, and Prostate.
The NCCN is an alliance of leading cancer centers focusing on “maintaining evidence-based expert consensus driven guidelines for care.” This announcement comes soon after the recent publication of the expanded NCCN Guidelines for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Colorectal, Endometrial, and Gastric. Both these updates are aimed at helping the field keep up with the growing use of genetic testing in cancer prevention, screening, and treatment.
“These expanded guidelines reflect the recommendations from leading experts on genetic testing based on the latest scientific research across the cancer spectrum, consolidated into two convenient resources,” explained Crystal S. Denlinger, MD, CEO, NCCN. “This information is critical for guiding shared decision-making between health care providers and their patients, enhancing screening practices as appropriate, and potentially choosing options for prevention and targeted treatment choices. Genetic testing guidelines enable us to better care for people with cancer and their family members.”
The NCCN Guidelines include information on when genetic testing is recommended, and which type of testing may be best. They detail which hereditary conditions and genetic mutations are associated with elevated cancer risk and include follow-up on what to do for people who have such variants, including increased screening, or preventive surgeries.
“NCCN has played a major role in the field by creating guideline panels specifically devoted to the genetics of major cancers, and by developing scientifically based guidelines to help providers offer the best genetic-based care to their patients,” said Mary B. Daly, MD, PhD, Fox Chase Cancer Center, chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Breast, Ovarian, Pancreatic, and Prostate.
She added, “These updates include the spectrum of genes associated with genetic syndromes, the range of risk associated with each pathogenic variant, the improvements in screening and prevention strategies, the role of genetic data to inform cancer treatment, and the expansion of the role of genetic counseling as this field moves forward.”
The NCCN Guidelines are the recognized standard for clinical recommendations and policy in cancer care and the most frequently updated clinical practice guidelines available in any area of medicine.
“The recently updated NCCN Guidelines for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Colorectal, Endometrial, and Gastric takes into account the latest published research and expert opinions from more than 30 experts on caring for individuals with risk for hereditary cancer,” said Samir Gupta, MD, UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center, chair of the NCCN Guidelines Panel for Genetic/Familial High-Risk Assessment: Colorectal, Endometrial, and Gastric.
“For the first time, we feature enhanced recommendations for evaluation for endometrial and gastric cancer risk, including: 1) new recommendations for consideration for hereditary cancer screening for all individuals with newly diagnosed endometrial cancer; 2) new recommendations for evaluation and management of CDH1 associated gastric cancer risk; 3) de-implementation of intense colorectal cancer screening for individuals with CHEK2 pathogenic variants; and 4) enhanced recommendations for managing gastric cancer risk in patients with APC pathogenic variants.”
