Background: Recently, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) amended guidelines on germline testing in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to include testing for all patients with PDAC irrespective of family history. In this quality improvement project, we aim to report a single institution experience in implementing this new guideline, and thus provide real-world data on genetic counseling in clinical practice. Methods: Between January 2019 to December 2019, we identified 113 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We retrospectively reviewed their charts to determine how many patients received germline counseling. We also collected data on baseline demographics, clinicopathologic characteristics, treatment history, and family history of malignancies. The primary objective was to determine the percentage of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma patients who underwent genetic counseling. Results: Our patient population included 57 (50.5 %) males and 56 (49.6 %) females. Median age at diagnosis was 65 years, with a range of 37 - 89 years. In terms of staging, 17 patients (15%) were Stage 1, 36 (31.9%) were Stage 2, 11 (9.7%) were stage 3, 39 (34.5%) were stage 4, and 10 (8.8%) could not be determined. Germline counseling was offered to 32 (28.31%) of our total patients. However, only 19 out of 32 (59.37%) actually had the germline testing done. In total, germline counselling was done for only 19 out of 113 (16.81%) of total patients. Conclusion: Although the 2019 NCCN guidelines recommend germline testing and counseling for all patients diagnosed with PDAC, the implementation of these guidelines could be improved at our tertiary care academic center. Our findings mirror that seen in other institutions. Hence, further studies are needed to identify and address potential barriers.
Statistics of patient who were offered germline testing
