Humphrey Cancer Center Patients Benefit from Genetics Counseling Effort

Business Wire, June 5, 2006

COON RAPIDS, Minn. -- Cancer experts say that many people who could benefit from cancer genetic services never receive them. Health care providers who treat cancer patients say determining which patients should see a genetic counselor can be time-consuming and complicated.

"There are many different known inherited conditions that can increase an individual's risk for certain cancers," Thomas Amatruda, M.D., oncologist said. "Each of these conditions tends to produce a different pattern of cancers in a family. The cancer types and the ages at which people were diagnosed are factors that help us identify these families."

The Humphrey Cancer Center is determined to improve the process of identifying patients who should have cancer genetic evaluations. With a grant from the Komen Foundation, a pilot program with breast cancer patients has begun in clinics at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale and Unity Hospital in Fridley.

The goal is to create and use the same method in all three clinics to collect comprehensive family history information from each patient and then filter the information through a set of established criteria to determine which patients should be referred for cancer genetic counseling.

"Our pilot project will look at 500 breast cancer patients over a six month period and collect their family histories," said Barbara Kunz, cancer genetic counselor at North Memorial. "Most importantly, this program will allow us to consistently evaluate family histories for features of hereditary cancer."

"This information can be of great value to patients and their families. By identifying which people in a family are at increased risk, we can provide those individuals with counseling and guidance in prevention and early detection, and really change outcomes," said Sarah Griffin, a cancer genetic counselor at Mercy & Unity Hospitals.

"This project gives us a chance to prevent cancer. We are grateful that the Komen Foundation has given us this opportunity," Joy Larsen Haidle, cancer genetic counselor at North Memorial said.

Mercy & Unity Hospitals, located in Coon Rapids and Fridley, are non-profit hospitals that serve the northern Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Mercy & Unity respond to a wide range of health care needs with specialty services including bariatric surgery, behavioral health, cardiac care, emergency, oncology, orthopedics, neurosciences and women's and children's services. The hospitals, which are part of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, are located on the Internet at www.mercyunity.com.

North Memorial has provided more than 50 years of service to communities in the northwest metro. North Memorial consists of North Memorial Medical Center, a Level I Trauma Center, and North Memorial Ambulance, which currently provides the majority of ambulance and emergency care for the northwest corridor area. In addition to emergency and trauma services, North Memorial is recognized for its outstanding cardiology, oncology, and women and children's services as well as its numerous primary care and specialty clinics throughout the northwestern Twin Cities. For more information, visit northmemorial.com.