(UroToday.com) Germline and somatic tumor DNA sequencing have been recommended for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) to in part determine eligibility for pembrolizumab (mismatch repair-deficient or microsatellite unstable tumors) or PARP inhibitors (alterations in select homologous recombination repair genes). In this study, Dr. Hung and colleagues utilized natural language processing (NLP) to search the Veterans Affairs Healthcare system database for patients with mCRPC, analyze rates of gene mutation testing in these patients, and determine factors associated with testing.
A total of 8,901 veterans diagnosed with mCRPC between 2016 and 2020 were retrospectively identified using NLP to form the study cohort. A total of 14% of patients in the final analysis cohort underwent genomic testing. Most of these patients (81%) had tumor genomic testing whereas 23% received germline testing. Out of the patience characteristics examined by the authors, older age and lower complexity facility care were independently associated with lower chance of receiving genomic testing. The authors concluded that patient and facility factors that are limiting guideline concordant care should be identified and addressed to ensure patients receive optimal care opportunities.
Presented By: Anna Hung, PhD, Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Duke Clinical Research Institute, Durham, NC
Written By: Alok K. Tewari, MD, PhD, medical oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, @aloktewar on Twitter during the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary (ASCO GU) Cancers Symposium, Thursday Feb 17 – Saturday Feb 19, 2022