Cancer risk determined via detailed patient histories

DALLAS, June 30 (UPI) -- Screening and knowing a person's genetic risk for certain cancers is an effective way to nip cancer in the bud, a U.S. cancer expect says.

Dr. David Euhus, clinical director of the Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center's Genetics Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, created a patient-driven computer software program -- CancerGene Connect -- that is changing the service delivery model for genetic risk assessment.

"It is an online patient-driven program that allows a patient to complete his or her family and medical history online prior to the medical appointment," Euhus said in a statement.

In 1998, Euhus created CancerGene software that includes multiple risk-assessment models that genetics professionals use to determine a patient's risk for hereditary cancers. For the first time, healthcare professionals freely could access risk assessment models on one easy-to-navigate computer program, Euhus said.

The desktop program is now used by more than 4,000 professionals in 75 countries and is updated regularly, he said

"We have taken this program to a new level and created a virtual genetic counseling environment," Euhus says. "We have found that by allowing patients to enter their family history at home, they obtain a more accurate history because they have a chance to contact their family members with questions.

"The point is to eliminate any need for survivorship because the disease itself, with the help of genetics screening and intervention, will be stopped before it begins."