Dr. Heidi Gray explains why speaking up and asking about in-depth cancer testing can make a real difference in understanding your cancer care. With today’s rapidly evolving testing options and personalized therapies, knowing what to ask—and why it matters—can make a real difference in your care.
Dr. Heidi Gray is a gynecologic oncologist at Fred Hutch Cancer Center and the division chief of gynecologic oncology and director of gynecologic oncology clinical trials at UW Medicine. Dr. Gray is also a professor in the division of gynecologic oncology at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Gray.
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Transcript
Katherine Banwell:
Dr. Gray, when a person has been diagnosed with cancer, why should they advocate for more in-depth testing?
Dr. Heidi Gray: Yeah, I think it’s really important. There’s a lot of different testing out there, and I think it’s important – information is always important.
And each cancer has a little bit different variety of testing that can really help firm where the cancer is and what aspects about that cancer itself are going to then give rise to the best treatment options. So, it’s always, I think, good for patients to kind of query or ask, “Are there any additional tests that we should be looking at that might better inform what’s happening with my cancer or about me?” And it’s sometimes hard to keep up as a provider – there are so many tests out there. But it’s really important to kind of have a one-on-one discussion and a personalized discussion with your patient about why a test might be helpful, or why it maybe won’t be helpful in that particular circumstance.
Katherine Banwell: How can the results of molecular or biomarker testing impact cancer treatment?
Dr. Heidi Gray: Yeah, so very much so. We have just the explosion of treatments and therapeutics that have been available in the last five to ten years is extraordinary.
And a lot of them really focus on different particular aspects of the cancer itself – mutations or proteins expressed, things like that – that can be found in these molecular testing assays. So, incredibly important.