Cancer Genetics Risk Assessment Clinic

The Cancer Genetics Clinic at AtlantiCare provides an opportunity for patients with concerns for a possible hereditary cancer risk in their family to meet with a board-certified and licensed genetic counselor to receive a personalized cancer genetic risk assessment. Genetic counselors are specifically trained to help patients understand the complexities of cancer genetics and guide patients through the genetic testing process.

While most cancers are sporadic and occur by chance a small percentage ~5-10% of cancers are hereditary and due to an identifiable genetic mutation. Genetic testing allows a patient to determine if they were born with an increased risk to develop certain cancer(s). If genetic testing reveals a hereditary risk, a genetic counselor is able to review the associated cancer risks based on the genetic finding and provide screening and management recommendations with the goal of prevention and early detection. If you already have a cancer diagnosis, genetic testing results may help your doctors make treatment decisions. Genetic testing can also provide information for relatives regarding likelihood of a hereditary risk.

Candidates for Genetic Counseling

You may be a good candidate to meet with our genetic counselor if you have a personal and/or family history of:

• A known genetic mutation
• Early onset-cancer(s) under the age of 50
• Triple negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, or male breast cancer
• Metastatic or high-grade prostate cancer
• Multiple primary cancers or bilateral cancer in an individual
• Same or related cancers in two or more close family members
• Ten or more pre-cancerous colon polyp(s)
• Rare pediatric tumors
• Abnormal tumor testing
• Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with personal/family history of cancer

If you have concerns but are not sure if you are a good candidate for genetic testing, you can always contact our genetics office who can provide you with a link to our chatbot, GIA, to submit your personal and family history for review by our genetic counselor.

Updates in Cancer Genetic Testing

In more recent years, technology has advanced allowing us to screen for mutations in multiple genes associated with cancer risk. If you previously had negative or uninformative genetic testing for only BRCA1 and BRCA2 or only Lynch syndrome, you may be a candidate for updated testing through a comprehensive multi-gene panel.

Genetic Counseling: What to Expect

A genetic counselor will review your medical and family history to provide an individualized risk assessment on the likelihood of a hereditary cancer predisposition. Our genetic counselor can:

• Review the benefits/limitations of genetic testing
• Discuss options for genetic testing based on personal/family history and insurance
• Recommend and coordinate genetic testing
• Review genetic testing results
• Provide personalized cancer risk estimates based on either genetic results or family history
• Provide individual’s screening and management recommendations based off combination of a patient’s genetic results, personal history, and family history
• Provide support to patients making decisions based on genetic testing results
• Provide support to families going through the genetic testing process

Two convenient AtlantiCare Locations

Our genetic counselor primarily sees patients at our Egg Harbor Township location:

AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute 
2500 English Creek Avenue, Bldg 400 and Bldg 600 
Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234

Appointments are available for the first Tuesday each month at our Cape May Court House location:

AtlantiCare Cancer Care Institute 
106 Court House South Dennis Rd 
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210

For more information on genetic counseling and testing or to schedule an appointment please call our genetics team at 609-383-6447.