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| Forum | Questions | Ask a Question | |
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Concerns about Breast Cancer Family History Questions on genetics, family history & breast cancer. |
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| 2/15/2011 | My maternal grandmother died from BC at 74, and my brother's daughter was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at 24. Recently, At 64 I was diagnosed with PLIC. Would having the BRCA test help me in any way to guide future treatment of my BC? I also have a 1-year old granddaughter and hope that she won't be at risk for BC or Ovarian cancer when she grows up. When my niece developed ovarian cancer 11 years ago and there was publicity about the BRCA test, I asked my OB/GYN about taking the test, and he said "no" but didn't explain why. Thank you. | ||
| Replied | JHU's Breast Center Reply | ||
| 2/15/2011 | It is very much worth your time and effort to get a formal consultation with a genetics counselor who can look at your family history for 3 generations and calculate for you the probability of having a gene, then if you want, testing you for BRCA 1 and 2. counseling is very important because the doctor may feel you DO have a gene but the test is negative for BRCA 1 and 2. that would then mean that you may have a gene that we simply don't have a way of testing and understanding yet. How does it effect treatment for someone newly diagnosed with breast cancer? for some who want to be proactive and as aggressive as possible to prevent recurrence, it can mean doing bilateral mastectomies as well as getting ovaries out. for others in your family, it can inform them of the potential genetic risk so that they are followed in a high risk clinic. And when appropriate for some of those relatives to also be tested. For your 1 year old granddaughter, we hope by the time she actually has to worry about this, we will have breast cancer cured and prevented. | ||
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