(UroToday.com) Multiple studies from different treatment environments have found less common than expected rates of germline and somatic sequencing in advanced prostate cancers. In this poster, Sydney Cobrin and colleagues utilized the Flatiron OncoEMR to identify all stage IV genitourinary cancer patients seen at a private practice over a six-month period in 2020. They also tested an electronic health record prompt prospectively to identify patients with stage IV GU cancers and communicate with providers regarding potential genetic sequencing.
A total of 91 stage IV GU cancer patients were identified for the retrospective analysis, and 65 patients were identified as having upcoming appointments within a one-month period in 2021. Just over 70% of patients in the retrospective and prospective cohorts had prostate cancer. However, in the retrospective cohort, only 17.6% of patients received sequencing-based testing, in contrast to 46.2% of bladder patients with stage IV cancer. Seven of the patients with prostate cancer who were profiles (41%) had actionable genetic mutations, most commonly BRCA1/2 or PALB2. The EHR prompt increased the rate of genetic sequencing in all stage IV GU cancer patients included in this study, as seen below.
The authors concluded that these findings highlight both the underutilization of genetic sequencing in advanced GU cancers, and the potential benefit of sequencing if performed in these patients
Presented by: Sydney E Cobrin, Astera Cancer Care, East Brunswick, NJ
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