ASCO Issues New Recommendations for Family History Taking in Oncology Setting

Posted by kjmonahan ⋅ February 15, 2014 ⋅ Leave a Comment

Filed Under American Society of Clinical Oncology, ASCO, Cancer, Colorectal cancer, Electronic health record, Family History, Genetics, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Oncology, Patient

In new recommendations published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, ASCO stated that family history of cancer in first- and second-degree relatives is critical to assessing for familial risk in patients with cancer. ASCO’s recommendations are the first to focus on family history taking specifically in oncology to help determine patients’ personal genetic risk for cancer.

Although the current standard in medical genetics, genetic counseling and research settings is a comprehensive recording of three generations, following a review of all available evidence, ASCO concluded that reported family history is most accurate in close relatives and loses accuracy in more distant relatives.

“Genetic factors are a key component of precision medicine because they can unlock important information that can help an oncologist determine the best course of individualized treatment, “ said ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP. “An adequate family history is key to identifying those patients whose cancer may be associated with inherited genetic factors.”

For each relative with cancer, ASCO recommends recording type of primary cancer(s), age at diagnosis, lineage (maternal and/or paternal), ethnicity and results of any cancer genetic testing in any relative. Family history information should be recorded at a patient’s initial visit to the oncology provider, and be reassessed if new information about family members diagnosed with cancer becomes available.

Addressing Barriers to Implementation

In a separate analysis of data from ASCO’s Quality Oncology Practice Initiative QOPI®, results showed that of breast and colorectal patients with a first degree family history of cancer, 79.8 percent were documented in their chart and for those with a second degree family history of cancer, 64.6 percent were documented. These results document a greater opportunity for oncologists to maximize the potential of family history taking, and set a baseline for further quality improvement efforts.

To address barriers to implementation, ASCO recommends increasing patient education and awareness on the importance of a family history and the significance of a cancer risk assessment for patients and their family. Cancer.Net, ASCO’s patient website, will offer an article and infographic, as well as a cancer family questionnaire patients can download.

ASCO also notes that the increasing use of electronic health records (EHRs) can help providers overcome challenges to adopting these new recommendations.

ASCO will be providing a comprehensive update of cancer genetics including family history assessment at its annual meeting. For more information about ASCO’s prevention and genetics work, please click here.