Monday Lunch Live

2 October 2023

Women with germline pathogenic variants in the BRCA1/2 genes are at increased lifetime risk of breast and ovarian cancer.

Australian guidelines were revised in 2013, now recommending genetic testing for all patients diagnosed with High Grade Non-Mucinous Ovarian Cancer (HGNMOC). However historically less than 50% of eligible patients were referred for testing before this revision, and therefore the opportunity to identify these disease-causing gene changes in these families were missed.

The TRACEBACK project aimed to reduce the number of inherited breast and ovarian cancers in Australia by identifying pathogenic variants in the families of these women, even though the patient themselves was likely deceased.

The TRACEBACK project was a nationwide study and a collaboration between Peter Mac, the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study, Ovarian Cancer Australia, and many participating national clinical sites and ovarian cancer research programs. Although ethically and logistically challenging, TRACEBACK was effective in detecting important gene changes in ovarian cancer patients who missed the opportunity for genetic testing, providing the opportunity for cancer prevention in family members.

In this webinar, Project Manager of TRACEBACK, Dr Kathryn Alsop, discusses the project and its impact.