Cancer Gene is a desktop program
developed by former UT Southwestern breast surgical oncologist, David Euhus,
M.D., in 1998 to allow practitioners to input basic information about their
patients’ personal and family histories of cancer and construct family
histories. The information could then be used to run several different risk
assessment models – such as the Gail and Claus models – to assess the patient’s
lifetime risk to develop breast cancers and their risk of BRCA1/BRCA2 gene
mutation.
In 2009, CancerGene Connect was created at UT
Southwestern. It is a cloud-based system that incorporates even more integral
health information about patients and automatically generates reports that
includes health information and risk assessment models. A secure online portal
allows patients to fill out their own information prior to the appointment,
which not only saves time for the providers but allows for more accurate
information as patients have an opportunity to discuss their family health
history with their family members prior to their appointments. This information
can be reviewed by the provider prior to the patient’s appointment, which helps
streamline the appointment and save provider time. The cloud-based database
also allows providers to search for unique genetic variants across their entire
patient population, allowing for in-depth interpretation of genetic results.
The original Cancer Gene is available for download to desktop.
The updated CancerGene Connect is currently
undergoing even more upgrades, including an unlimited pedigree drawing tool and
integration to electronic medical records.
