Genetic testing plays a major role in identifying an individual's risk for developing cancer as well as the management of many different cancers, including prostate cancer.  It's important that we patients know the limits of a key federal privacy law that is supposed to protect us when we do have a genetic test.

In June, 2020, there was a  new set of recommendations on the use of genetic testing published by the International Philadelphia Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference that strongly endorses the testing of all men with metastatic prostate cancer to aid with treatment decisions and to assess eligibility for clinical trials.

 It is important that we understand that there are significant limits to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008, which was written to protect against discrimination in employment and medical insurance for people with known genetic risk factors for diseases, including cancer.  

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