Prof. Yves-Jean Bignon, a French specialist in oncogenetic counseling, performed on November 26, 2011 the two first oncogenetic consultations in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center on patients previously treated for breast and ovarian cancer.
A genetic counseling in oncology aims to identify some hereditary predisposition to cancer. After a succession of questions regarding the medical history of the patient and his or her family, the oncogenetic counselor builds a genealogical family tree to assess the risk for a whole family to develop a certain kind of cancer. The counselor can then propose a genetic testing to detect eventual germ-line mutations on cancer genes. As a result, detecting high-risk to a specific cancer may allow diagnosing a cancer at an early stage or even preventing the patient to get a specific cancer.
Although practiced in western countries for decades and widely accepted as an efficient technique for cancer prevention and early diagnosis, especially for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and colorectal cancer, oncogenetic consultation, as a structured technique for cancer diagnosis, isn’t common in China yet and genetic mutation analysis are mostly performed for research purposes. Considering the large size of the Chinese population, organizing early diagnosis for cancer in high-risk sub-group populations will benefit a significant number of patients.
Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center recently hosted the “2011 Sino-French Workshop in Oncology” and invited Prof. Yves-jean Bignon to present and discuss his perspective in oncogenetics. Internationally recognized, Prof. Yves-Jean Bignon pioneered oncogenetic consultation in 1988 (France) and brought a major contribution to spread this technique in several countries. In 2009, Prof. Yves-Jean Bignon signed an agreement for the training of physicians from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center in oncogenetics.
Aware of the opportunity to take an oncogenetic consultation, two patients made an appointment on November 26, 2011 with Prof. Yves-Jean Bignon. As far as we know, they were the very first oncogenetic consultations in mainland China with medical advices provided to patients and family members accompanied with diagnosis gene testing. Supportive of this initiative, several physicians from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center participated in the consultation as well, discussing relatively to their respective specialty (breast cancer, gynecologic cancer and cancer prevention). The genetic testing associated with those consultations will be performed in collaboration with Beijing Genomics Institute in Shenzhen.
We believe that this consultation was an important step for clinical oncogenetics practice in mainland China, and a team of physicians from SYSUCC has decided to join a sino-french oncogenetics working group, led by Prof. Yves-jean Bignon. Together, they will gather their efforts to first facilitate the availability of the oncogenetic consultation in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center and then contribute to extend this practice in China.
Picture of the first consultation in oncogenetics ever performed in Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, from left to right around the table:
- Dr. Min Zheng, Professor, Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
- Dr. Sumei Cao, Associate Professor in the Department of Cancer Prevention, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
- Dr. Yves-Jean Bignon, 1st class professor, Director of the Oncogenetics Department, Comprehensive Cancer Center Jean Perrin, Clermont-Ferrand, France
- Dr. Liangping Xia, Associate Professor and Vice-Director, VIP Region, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
- Patient (in purple, in front of the picture)
- Dr. Zeming Xie, Physician, Department of Breast Oncology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center
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