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The Department of Health said Tuesday that thousands of women having received advice from a genetic expert have not undergone all the tests needed to determine if they carry the mutation that them exposes to a high risk of bad cancer or ovarian.
The ministry asked the health maintenance organizations who referred patients to Prof. Zvi Borochowitz's genetic counseling when they had a family history of bad cancer or ovarian cancer to locate these women so that they could undergo all the necessary tests. Until three years ago, Borochowitz was running the Bnei Zion Genetics Institute in Haifa.
The ministry said that some of the women who have been referred to Borochowitz may need laboratory tests to detect genes that increase the risk of bad and ovarian cancer – BRCA 1 or BRCA 2. The ministry said that most North women, and were referred by HMO Maccabi, Meuhedet or Leumit.
Despite the concern, there is no indication that there are thousands of cases of cancer that have been missed without the women developing the badociated symptoms, or that there is women who did not know that they were part of the high-risk group.
But even though the group is smaller, genetic testing provides a reliable prediction that could lead to preventive mastectomy or removal of the ovaries that saves the lives of many women.
According to the Ministry of Health, Borochowitz did not send patients with high genetic risk to determine whether they had inherited genes. The ministry based its claim on lawsuits filed by two former Borochowitz patients and a recent investigation it has conducted.
Borochowitz reportedly counseled thousands of women both through the public medical system and privately.
A statement released on behalf of Borochowitz says that from 2004 to 2006, he advised a few dozen women on bad cancer and ovarian cancer. "As part of the consultation, he would rely on his best medical judgment and on a Ministry of Health circular to determine the cases in which he would recommend to women to undergo a BRCA 1-2 gene mutation test."
The statement says that at the time he was heading the only institute of genetics in the north that was performing tests in private, "and that he was therefore even more cautious [about avoiding] a failure ethics by referring patients to private tests that had no clear or unambiguous justification. "
The statement says that from 2006 "after court decisions that had no connection with his work, the approach changed and patients also had the opportunity to undergo private testing that were not included in the health basket ". , procedures and services covered by the state.
The Bnei Zion Medical Center said in response: "Prof. Borochowitz stopped working at the hospital three years ago and beyond that we are working according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health."
In 2004, the state began paying the test for which the Ministry of Health said that Borochowitz did not send women at high risk of bad cancer or cancer. ;ovary. Before that, many women were paying for the test themselves.
About 10 to 15% of cases of bad cancer and ovarian cancer are hereditary. Because women with the mutation are at higher risk of getting cancer, genetic testing using a blood test is a survival tool.
According to the Ministry of Health, the test is performed on the recommendation of a genetic specialist after the patient has received genetic counseling and if it belongs to a population group whose carrier rate of mutations is 1% or more. women have a first or second degree relative who has had bad cancer or ovarian cancer.
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