Ovarian cancer can be a silent killer. Most women are diagnosed with this cancer at later stages, as the symptoms are often silent or not recognized as indications of cancer in earlier stages in the midst of busy lives.
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You likely have many questions about genetic counseling and genetic testing. Here are some of the more common questions.
In this episode, we are myth busting! What does the “counseling” in “genetic counseling” really mean? Do genetic counselors tell you how to make medical decisions? Do genetic counselors have all the answers? How precise is precision medicine?
COVID-19 has significantly impacted the lives of people all around the world. While the pandemic’s effect on hospitals and the frontline healthcare workers is palpable, other aspects of healthcare are also affected. Elective surgeries are cancelled, medical supplies are scarce and clinical care teams struggle to rapidly transition to telehealth services so they are easily accessible to patients. Meanwhile, patients are fearful of exposure yet still need essential healthcare services unrelated to the pandemic.
COVID-19 has significantly impacted the lives of people all around the world. While the pandemic’s effect on hospitals and the frontline healthcare workers is palpable, other aspects of healthcare are also affected. Elective surgeries are cancelled, medical supplies are scarce and clinical care team
As more clinics and hospitals are restricting access to clinicians and cancelling non-essential appointments in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, the use of telehealth services is increasing dramatically to ensure this counsel and other medical services can be provided. Genetic counselors are not strangers to telehealth services; many have been providing telehealth services as an option to their patients for years. However, it has become more of an acute need right now as we are all facing the challenges of COVID-19.
This Breast Cancer Awareness Month, NSGC and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) want to help individuals learn the steps they can take to understand their risk for health conditions, including breast and ovarian cancer. In a new episode of NSGC’s Genetic Counselors and You consumer podcast series, NSGC Cancer Expert Joy Larsen Haidle and family physician, Sarah Coles, MD, discuss how genetic testing and counseling is part of understanding genetic risk. Larsen Haidle is a genetic counselor at North Memorial Health Cancer Center in Robbinsdale, Minn. and Coles is a family physician from Phoenix, Ariz.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the National Society of Genetic Counselors and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention want to help women learn the steps they can take – like genetic testing and genetic counseling – to understand their risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
February is American Heart Month, so it's a great time to take heredity to heart and learn why genetics is important in heart disease. Cardiovascular genetic counselors specialize in providing risk assessment and, when heredity is indicated, genetic testing for heart disease. Since cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, is the leading killer of American men and women, knowing whether you may have an increased genetic risk is very important.
While many people know that genetic counselors work with families concerned about conditions caused entirely by genes, people are often less familiar with the idea that we also work with families affected by health conditions caused by a combination of genes and our experiences. Psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder are a few examples.