Cancer genetic testing: current and emerging issues

摘要

This special issue on 'Genetic Testing and Psycho-social Research' is appearing a little more than a decade after the first studies on psychosocial aspects of cancer genetic testing were published in the professional literature. The continuing excitement and the growing breadth and depth of this new field of study are reflected in the fact that the call for papers for the current special issue yielded more submissions (from nine countries) than any previous Psycho-Oncology special issue. As medicine (and especially oncology) becomes increasingly intertwined with genetic advances, and as the number of people undergoing genetic testing increases, it becomes all the more important that we understand the human factors influencing uptake of genetic tests, adherence to regimens of screening or surveillance recommended to mutation carriers and high-risk individuals, and issues of individual, family, and community impact of genetic technologies and genetic knowledge.