Genetic Risk Assessment Tool Developed by UH and PerceptIS

PerceptIS recently assisted University Hospitals in creating an online tool that allows patients to determine their risk factors for cancer.

An article recently appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer about the Genetic Risk Assessment Tool ("GREAT"):

University Hospitals Web program helps patients spot cancer risks
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Regina McEnery


niversity Hospitals introduced a new online tool this month that will enable patients to spot risk factors for cancer that might escape detection during routine family histories.

The list of questions, which takes no more than 30 minutes to complete, was created by a team of researchers whose areas of expertise range from genetics and oncology to family medicine.

It is called the Genetic Risk Assessment Tool - GREAT for short. The software reflects a growing movement across the country to personalize medicine, particularly for diseases where the genetic links can be strong and there are reliable methods of early detection and prevention.

Women undergoing mammograms at the hospital's main campus on Euclid Avenue are eligible to participate in the pilot project, but UH hopes to eventually expand GREAT to other sites within its Ireland Cancer Center. UH also wants to use it to assess other cancer risks besides those for breast cancer, including ovarian and colon cancer.

Dr. Georgia Weisner, an associate professor of genetics and medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and one of the key architects of GREAT, said the online tool is not intended to replace the routine family histories that doctors take to help determine which patients need genetic testing or preventive therapy.

It is meant to spot red flags that may not come up during consultations. For instance, most women expect to be asked whether their mother or grandmother had breast cancer, when they began menstruating or when they had their first child.

Using Web-based technology, GREAT streamlines the process by displaying the information to look like a family tree. Then it supplies a personalized report to each patient about their cancer risk and prevention, and offers them the option of sharing the information with their doctor. It also goes into more depth about the person's habits.

"One of the goals is to personalize genetic information in such a way that the patient can then go to their doctor and say, 'What do I do with this information?' " Weisner said.

While diet, environmental toxins and other external factors may cause cancers to mushroom, genes are probably the single biggest factor fueling their growth. Doctors use genetic information to determine how to prevent and treat cancer. The belief is that one day cancer care will be routinely tailored based upon a patient's genetic makeup and the genetic makeup of the tumor.

This has spawned the growth of tools like GREAT, but the UH model has several advantages over others, said Dr. Louise Acheson, a professor of family medicine, oncology and reproductive medicine at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

For one, it allows patients to update the information as they learn more information about their family tree, Acheson said.

"We believe by contributing family medical history to researchers, patients can help discover new patterns of cancer," Acheson said.