TUESDAY, March 31, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- A new online tool may help cancer patients communicate genetic testing results with family, according to a study published online March 24 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Steven J. Katz, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues evaluated an online, direct-to-family, cancer genetic education and communication tool (Genetic Information and Family Testing) among adult relatives of cancer survivors who carried a pathogenic variant. The analysis included 414 enrolled patients.
The researchers reported that enrolled patients reported a total of 4,946 first- and second-degree relatives (mean, 12.3) and that they invited 948 relatives (19.2 percent), of whom 32 percent enrolled. Most enrolled relatives ordered testing (91.3 percent). For relatives randomly assigned to free versus $50 testing, the odds of testing were 2.5-fold higher. However, the absolute increase was modest (0.04). Being randomly assigned to a human navigator did not increase testing (odds ratio, 1.3; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.8 to 2.1).
"Our online intervention is a promising blueprint to address this critical need for cascade genetic education and testing," Katz said in a statement. "Few medical tests have implications for others beyond the patient. But with germline genetic testing, the results can be very significant to the health of others around you."