Dr. Rimel on the Importance of BRCA and HRD Testing in Ovarian Cancer

Bobbie J. Rimel, MD, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, discusses the importance of testing patients with ovarian cancer for homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) or homologous recombination proficiency (HRP), and BRCA mutation status.

It is important to test and identify patients with BRCA mutations in order to determine which type of therapy they are eligible for, as well as if cascade testing is needed, Rimel states. This offers patients’ family members the ability to also be tested for cancer screening prevention.

Additionally, HRD testing is valuable for understanding a patient's magnitude of benefit with maintenance PARP inhibitors, Rimel continues. Patients who are HRD have different projected progression-free survival outcomes than those who are HRP, Rimel adds. Accordingly, knowing their HRD status can better inform and guide patients' treatment decisions, Rimel concludes.