JCH offering genomics

Light up.
Take a puff.
Enjoy a cigarette.
Smoke 14 more and you’ve sparked a genetic mutation in your body, Dr. Sulfi Ibrahim told members of the Jay County Hospital Board of Trustees on Wednesday.
Ibrahim, who leads the cancer center at JCH, gave board member a preview of a presentation on precision genomics, a cutting-edge approach to cancer treatment that incorporates an individual patient’s genetics.
A public presentation on the topic is set for noon May 4 in the conference rooms of the hospital.
“This is something we’re pretty passionate about,” Dr. Ibrahim said. Only two hospitals in Indiana are now working in precision genomics — IU Health Simon Cancer Center in Indianapolis and IU Health Ball Memorial Cancer Center in Muncie. But now the genomics approach is available in Jay County.
“Genetic mutation is the genesis of cancer,” Dr. Ibrahim told the board.
Through precision genomics, it’s possible to develop “personalized cancer treatment” designed around a patient’s genetic make-up.
Only 5 to 10 percent of genetic mutations are hereditary, he said. About 80 to 90 percent are either acquired because of lifestyle or various risk factors or are simply sporadic.
“Many of these mutations can be random,” he said.
Working with pharmacist Beth Koselke and clinical coordinator Allison Spradlin, Ibrahim performs a needle biopsy while a patient is in a CT scanner. That sample is then subjected to pharmacogenic testing, which in turn guides treatment.
“We find out what genes are driving the cancer,” he said.
Test results are reviewed by a genomics tumor board via video conferencing with the Simon Cancer Center. That review incorporates oncologists, pathologists, geneticists, clinical trial coordinators, pharmacists and nurses.
“You get a consensus recommendation based upon a person’s genetics,” he said. “You need much more than a physician to interpret genomics test results.”
Currently, precision genomics is limited to situations in which other cancer treatment options have failed. But the success rate has been high enough that Ibrahim expects the approach to be used more widely in the future.
“This is an incredibly exciting time to be practicing oncology,” he said. “This (precision genomics) will probably change the way not just oncology but all medicine is practiced.”
Ibrahim’s genomics clinic at the cancer center at JCH is conducted every Thursday afternoon.