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Concerns about Breast Cancer Family History Questions on genetics, family history & breast cancer. |
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| 5/14/2011 | I had grade 1, microscopic 1 node breast cancer 4 years ago, Had chemo, bilateral mastectomy and am on Arimidex. My mother had grade 1 in siti breast cancer at age 62, her sister had inflammatory breast cancer at 88. I had the brac analysis and was negative for the genetic factors. I was er,pr, her2 neg as was my mom. My aunt was triple negative. My daughter who is 39 has had the same dense and fibrocystic breast all of us had. She wants the brac analysis done. How likely is it she would be positive? | ||
| Replied | JHU's Breast Center Reply | ||
| 5/14/2011 | Thanks for such a great question! We usually test the person who has the cancer, in this ,you, and you were negative. Your daughter would there fore not be positive. I would recommend however, that your daughter consider high risk assessment and genetic counseling.She might even consider talking to a medical oncologist about risk reduction medical and surgical options if needed or desired. Also remember that only 5% to 10% of breast cancer is linked to hereditary risk factors and not all of the genes linked to hereditary breast cancer risk are known. "Hereditary breast cancer risk is more likely in families where women are diagnosed with breast cancer under age 50 or prior to menopause or when there is also ovarian cancer in the family. When a family is considering genetic testing for mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes it is always recommended that a person who had breast or ovarian cancer be tested first. If their test result shows a gene mutation, other family members at-risk can have targeted and more informative testing. If their test result is negative, however, testing would not be beneficial to other family members." Your daughter, with such a strong family history, needs to stay very vigilant about her breast exams, mammos, clinical breast exams, perhaps MRI's etc! Best wishes! | ||
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