Randomized study of pretest video education versus genetic counseling in patients with breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or metastatic prostate cancer

With increasing demand for cancer genetic testing (GT), providers are exploring alternative service delivery models such as video education (VE). A randomized study at two US centers compared uptake of GT among patients with breast, ovarian, pancreatic, or metastatic prostate cancer randomized to pretest VE or pretest visit with a genetic counselor (CC). In the VE group, 91% completed GT, compared with 78% in the GC group (p=0.01). In the GC group, 97.4% of participants felt all questions and concerns had been addressed, compared with 66.9% in the VE group (p<0.001). Among all participants tested, 13.2% had a pathogenic or likely pathogenic variant. The authors conclude that in this study VE was highly accepted and led to better GT uptake compared with GC.