June 28, 2018 – Molecular testing in Metastatic Gastric/GEJ Cancer

DDF’s Scientific and Medical Advisory Board Chair, David Ilson, MD, PhD, explains that when it comes to a patient with metastatic disease molecular testing does have an impact on choices of therapy. More specifically HER2 testing is a common in patients with metastatic disease. If a patient is HER2-positive, then trastuzumab is included as part of the chemotherapy for that patient. Moreover, for metastatic patients, physicians also consider microsatellite instability testing, DNA mismatch repair protein testing, or PD-L1 testing given as how the outcome of these tests may influence treatment. When a young patient under the age of 50 is diagnosed with gastric cancer, it is prudent to think about CDH1 or hereditary diffuse gastric cancer. Genetic testing is used for these types of patients and it is commonly found that heritable mutations are not present unless there is a family history of gastric cancer in their families. Genetic testing is more commonly used in younger patients than in older patients, nevertheless, in very rare occasions that heritable mutations are found.
Genetic Testing
View Full Article
Related Videos