The identification of families at-risk for hereditary cancer is extremely important
due to the prevention potential in those families. However, the number of Brazilian
genetic services providing oncogenetic care is extremely low for the continental
dimension of the country and its population. Therefore, at-risk patients do not
receive appropriate assistance. This report describes the creation, structure and
management of a cancer genetics service in a reference center for cancer prevention
and treatment, the Barretos Cancer Hospital (BCH). The Oncogenetics Department (OD)
of BCH offers, free of charge, to all patients/relatives with clinical criteria, the
possibility to perform i) genetic counseling, ii) preventive examinations and iii)
genetic testing with the best quality standards. The OD has a multidisciplinary team
and is integrated with all specialties. The genetic counseling process consists
(mostly) of two visits. In 2014, 614 individuals (371 families) were seen by the OD.
To date, over 800 families were referred by the OD for genetic testing. The support
provided by the Oncogenetics team is crucial to identify at-risk individuals and to
develop preventive and personalized behaviors for each situation, not only to the
upper-middle class population, but also to the people whose only possibility is the
public health system.