tissue-banking booklet - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

ADVANCING CANCER CARE 11How Much Personal and MedicalInformation Should I Share?It is your choice whether or not to donateyour tissue to a tissue bank. You also have a choiceas to how much or how little information you wantto share. For example, you can consent just to havingyour tissue collected. Or you can consent to sharingsome personal information such as your gender, age,racial or ethnic group, and history of smoking. Youcan also allow access to your medical record. Thechoice is yours.Knowing a patient’s age and ethnic group mayhelp researchers understand how these factors affectthe risk of getting cancer. And being able to studypatients’ tissues in light of their medical historiesmay tell scientists a lot moreabout the causes of cancer andhow to develop new therapies.“It adds enormous value to the banked tissue if it is linked to someclinical information. You might say, ‘You can have my tissue, youcan have access to my medical record, and you can phone meup in 10 years to see how I’m doing.’ Or you can just say no. It’scompletely voluntary.”—Christopher Fletcher, MD, PATHOLOGIST