Oncology Gold Standard™ consensus statement on counseling patients for molecular testing and personalized cancer care

Advances in molecular oncology technology and their application to personalized cancer care have evolved very rapidly over the past 5 years. At the same time, there are a lot of conflicting and often misleading statements available on the world wide web. This results in confusion and misunderstanding among cancer patients and their well-wishers. We realized that there was an urgent need for developing a consensus document to address this unmet need. Oncology Gold Standard and Molecular Oncology Society, therefore, took up the challenge and formed an expert group that together prepared this consensus statement on counseling patients for molecular testing and personalized cancer care. This is intended to benefit patients, family and friends by improving their broad understanding and equip them to make an informed decision and take active participation in decision-making for their own cancer management - with respect to prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of cancer.