Clinical Cancer Genetics

With a Foreword by Richard D. Klausner, M.D., Director, National Cancer Institute and an Introduction by Henry T. Lynch, M.D., President, Hereditary Cancer Institute and Director, Creighton Cancer Center, Creighton University

When ordering a genetic test to determine whether a patient is susceptible to genetically transmitted cancers, physicians must be prepared to cope with profound medical, psychological, and ethical consequences. They, along with genetic counselors, nurses, psychologists, and other health professionals, must ensure that interpretations of test results are accurate, risk assessments are appropriate, and the communication of risk information is clear, helpful, and productive.

Clinical Cancer Genetics: Risk Counseling and Management is a comprehensive practical guide for health professionals responding to the growing demand for clinical cancer genetic services. Using examples drawn from actual cases and emphasizing fundamental principles throughout, this book outlines the scope of clinical cancer genetics and its underlying scientific concepts, reviews the most prevalent syndromes of cancer predisposition, and addresses major issues associated with genetic testing, including:

• Use of quantitative methods in risk counseling
• Methodologies of genetic testing
• Genetic testing of patients with cancer
• Reproductive risk counseling of cancer patients
• Special psychological, ethical, and legal challenges in clinical cancer genetics

Supplemented with practical materials used in cancer genetic counseling programs and an annotated table of selected human cancer predisposition syndromes, Clinical Cancer Genetics: Risk Counseling and Management equips health care professionals with a complete understanding of the benefits and limitations of genetic testing technologies and the ability to integrate genetic information into the management of patients who are at risk or already affected by cancer.

KENNETH OFFIT is Chief of the Clinical Genetics Service in the Department of Human Genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He attended Princeton University and the Harvard Medical School and received an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Offit chaired the Subcommittee on Genetic Testing for Cancer Susceptibility of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, and is a member of the Cancer Genetics Working Group of the National Cancer Institute.