(St. Louis, MO) — Mercy St. Louis is among the first health care systems in the nation to offer a new cancer risk screening tool, and is doing so on a large scale. Mercy Medical Director for Oncology, Dr. Jay Carlson says they hope to make the tool available to 100,000 patients. The process begins with an online risk assessment.
Dr. Carlson says the results of that assessment could lead to a blood or saliva test and the analysis of 77 genes. He says it’s important to note if a gene mutation is found it does not mean a patient is going to be diagnosed with cancer, only that there’s a genetic risk for the individual and their family members. He notes depending on the findings, patients would be offered additional counseling and possibly more cancer screenings and/ or other preventative measures. Dr. Carlson says the ultimate goal is to detect cancer at an earlier stage, potentially resulting in a better outcome for the patient.
Mercy is working with the Tempus genetic testing company on the screening tool.