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Video

Is it useful to know every genetic mutation a patient has?

Posted by
HealthTree Logo HealthTree
• October 13, 2021

Description

Learn about knowing every genetic mutation that a patient has is useful or not in this HealthTree University lesson by a cancer specialist.

On this video

Transcript

So my research lab focuses on epigenetic mechanisms of leukemogenesis, of causing leukemia. And so for these types of genetic queries, sometimes we do very expanded panels that don't necessarily have in 2021 clinical relevance. And that's helpful for us on the research side. But when I'm attending on the floors taking care of patients with leukemia, those mutations right now don't help me change the way that I would treat that patient. And so expanded panels or whole genome sequencing really right now has only a research application. But because there's so many genes that influence how we would act and how we would think about a particular patient's leukemia, these panels have gotten quite long. Hundreds of genes are on these panels. And they tend to change over time as we learn more about leukemia. But these genes are particularly chosen because of large scope whole genome sequencing that really has identified at least to the half a percentage incidence and prevalence, the mutations that are represented in acute myeloid leukemia. And so while there's potentially some really, really rare genetic mutations that might not be tested on these particular types of panels, the vast majority are on there, even from a research standpoint at this phase in the game. But most importantly, the ones that will clinically alter how I would manage my patient are all represented on these NGS panels.

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