Discussing germline testing for prostate cancer with veterans

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

Clinicians should reassure veterans that germline testing results will not affect their service-connected benefits during pretest counseling.
Veterans exposed to agents like Agent Orange or burn pits may have a presumed connection to prostate cancer, qualifying them for significant benefits.
Understanding the importance of these lifelong financial benefits is crucial for clinicians advising veterans on germline testing.
Both VA and non-VA healthcare providers should incorporate this information when counseling veterans on genetic testing.

"Whenever they discuss germline testing, an important part of that is this pretest counseling process where you talk about the pros and the cons," says Daniel Kwon, MD.

In this video, Daniel Kwon, MD, discusses how clinicians can use information from the JNCI Cancer Spectrum paper, “Germline testing for veterans with advanced prostate cancer: concerns about service-connected benefits” to counsel patients. Kwon is an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Transcription:

How do you envision clinicians using the information from your study to better counsel veterans about germline testing, particularly regarding the potential impact on their benefits?

I think clinicians should take this information, especially those at the VA, but also clinicians outside the VA who take care of veterans, so it's not just VA oriented, and whenever they discuss germline testing, an important part of that is this pretest counseling process where you talk about the pros and the cons. Include some information that reassures them that their genetic test results [will] not affect their service connected benefits that are active right now, or if they're in the process of increasing or applying for new service-connected benefits, then it won't affect that either.

I guess something I should have gone into a bit more detail is this whole idea of like, what is a service-connected benefit, and what does that have anything to do with prostate cancer? Veterans who were exposed to certain agents while in the military in active service, for example, Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, or burn pits in the Middle East, and then later developed prostate cancer, that is a presumed connection between the exposure and the disease, where they automatically get benefits related to this service connection. These benefits can be quite significant. I won't go into detail, but you heard from one of the quotes that it's a monthly pension of sorts for the rest of their lives. And so this is a really important disability type of benefit for a lot of veterans.

This transcription was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.