En este estudio se hace una revisión de los efectos adversos más frecuentes por la cirugía de tumores de cabeza y cuello, la radioterapia y la quimioterapia, pues no es infrecuente que el odontólogo general encuentre en su consulta complicaciones como mucositis, xerostomía, necrosis óseas, alteraciones gustativas y otras lesiones que causarán molestias considerables al paciente, disminuyendo su calidad de vida. El papel del odontólogo en el tratamiento multidisciplinario constituye un pilar importante en la prevención, el tratamiento de dichas complicaciones y la disminución de sus secuelas.

Introduction Breast cancer (BC) is the leading cause of cancer death in Caribbean women. The prevalence of deleterious mutations in BRCA1/2, PALB2 and RAD51C among unselected BC patients in the Caribbean is 5-25%. We previously reported data on low usage of genetic counseling services by Bahamian women. In order to improve the dissemination of genetic testing results to Caribbean probands and their families we developed a structured approach to genetic test result dissemination and family counseling. Methods After approval by the University of Miami IRB and the Ethics Committee of the Ministry of Health of Trinidad & Tobago, we prospectively evaluated the active approach to genetic counseling in 32 BC mutation carriers in Trinidad & Tobago in 2015. The intervention consisted of: 1) initial appointment with referring oncologist for results discussion; 2) review of family tree with proband to identify all relatives at 25% or 50% risk (ARR) who should attend the genetic counseling session; 3) preschedule a counseling appointment for ARR within 2 weeks; 4) written invitation to genetic counseling session; 5) handouts of genetic information given to proband to distribute to family members; 6) offer assistance with contacting family members; 7) free genetic testing to ARR who attended the family counseling session. Results Twenty-five carriers (78%) consented to enroll in the study. At initial counseling, probands identified 158 ARR, however full family pedigree review at post-result counseling/consultation identified 225 ARR. 101 ARR (64%) attended the information sessions and 76 participants (75.2%) consented to be tested for BC gene mutations. Genetic sequencing revealed 35 ARR (46%) were carriers of at least one mutation. The most frequent reasons for ARR not attending the meetings were: living abroad (18%), unable to be contacted (17%), refusing to participate (17%), not showing up (17%), probands being estranged from ARR (12%) or being afraid to know the results (7%). Conclusions In Trinidad & Tobago, a structured approach to the dissemination of genetic test results leads to a significant improvement in the rate of family participation compared to previous efforts (64% in Trinidad & Tobago vs. 9% in the Bahamas). Citation Format: George SH, Bravo GL, Sandoval AC, Palacio S, Ali J, Donenberg TR, Akbari MR, Narod S, Hurley J. An active approach to genetic counseling in Trinidadian women with breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2017 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2017 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-10-11.