Genetic testing has been a game changer in cancer care and prevention, but could we use multigene panel testing more broadly to identify more precise treatments and to detect cancers earlier? A retrospective cohort study of more than 34,000 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients sought to better understand the potential yield of broadening genetic testing for hereditary cancer risk variants in these individuals.

In a blog post on Medscape, Sarah Coughlin, an advanced endoscopy fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, explains her study and its findings: across all ages, panel sizes, and races/ethnicities, the rate of clinically actionable variants was 7.8 percent or greater – supporting an expanded role for multigene panel testing in CRC patients.

Dr. Coughlin presented data from the study “Multigene panel testing yields high rates of clinically actionable variants among a large colorectal cancer cohort,” Abstract Tu1104, at Digestive Disease Week® (DDW) 2022.