Dr. Kapoor on Multigene Panel Testing for Patients at Risk for Breast Cancer

Nimmi S. Kapoor, MD, surgical oncologist, Breastlink Laguna Hills and Breastlink Orange, discusses the benefits and safety of multigene panel testing in patients who are at risk for hereditary breast cancer.

Kapoor discusses a study that compared the use of multigene panel testing with limited testing for BRCA1/2 mutations in patients at risk for breast and ovarian cancer. The study enrolled 966 patients, 620 of which had limited testing done.

Results showed that multigene panel testing detects nearly identical rates for BRCA1/2 as the standard limited testing, demonstrating the safety of multigene panel testing. However, multigene panel testing detected nearly double the amount of mutations in non-BRCA1/2 genes. The most commonly found mutations include PALB2, CHEK2, and ATM, Kapoor adds.