Last 15 June 2020, the National Institutes of Health Institute of Human Genetics held a webinar entitled “Telegenetics Cancer Counseling: Value in Oncology Practice.” The main speaker was Dr. Mercy Laurino, Clinical Assistant Professor at the UP College of Medicine and a certified genetic counselor from Seattle, Washington, USA. A distinguished panel of experts composed of Dr. Marie Dione Sacdalan (colorectal surgeon), Dr. Dennis Sacdalan (medical oncologist), and Dr. Eva Maria Cutiongco-De la Paz (clinical geneticist) gave their insights on the value of cancer genetic counseling.
As COVID-19 sweeps across the nation, alternative modes of delivering health care services are being developed and one such service that can be delivered through telehealth is genetic counseling.
This webinar is important because cancer remains to be a leading cause of mortality in the Philippines. While majority of cancer cases are sporadic in nature, there is a subset of cases that is familial and inherited. Oncology physicians, nurses, and other health care providers have the essential role to identify red flags in patients that could indicate heritable cancer. Identifying these cases will provide patients and their families an opportunity to seek genetic counseling, receive targeted therapies, and engage in earlier screening and surveillance along with other interventions that would lead to better outcomes.
There were 133 attendees, mostly physicians, nurses, and other health workers with a few lay persons. A variety of topics were discussed such as the importance of genetic risk assessment as a component in cancer care; how to identify red flags in the family health history that would warrant further genetic risk assessment; how genetic risk assessment can be integrated in clinical practice, and different innovative strategies on how to provide genetic risk assessment and genetic counseling services given the current pandemic situation.
The webinar was sponsored by the Clinical Genetics and Genomics Counseling Care Services Inc., a group of medical geneticists and genetic counselors in the Philippines. The group was formed to support individuals and families in navigating the complexities of genetic and genomic testing methodologies and to translate relevant genetic information necessary for their care. For further information about their services, please feel free to visit their website: cggccs.com or send an email to: info@cggccs.com.
The next webinar in this series on the topic of Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome will be held on 20 July 2020.
Dr. Ma-Am Joy Tumulak and Peter James Abad
Published in Healthscape Special COVID-19 Issue No. 10
