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Are You at Risk for Inherited Cancer? |
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Since inherited cancers are relatively rare, cancer genetics testing is only recommended under certain circumstances.
Genetic counseling can help you to assess your risk based on personal and family medical history. It will also help to determine whether you are a candidate for genetic testing.
Knowing your family history of cancer is the first step in helping to determine your risk. If you or your family have any of the following features, you may be a candidate for a genetic consultation through UCSD's Cancer Genetics Unit.
- Early onset of breast or colon cancer (before age 50)
- Two or more related cancers in the same person, or in close relatives, for example:
- breast cancer and ovarian cancer
- colorectal and endometrial cancers
- melanoma and pancreatic cancers
- Individuals or families with numerous colon polyps
- Male breast cancer
- Families with many cases of breast and/or ovarian cancer
- Families with a combination of at least three of the following cancers: Colon, rectal, stomach, endometrial, uterine, kidney, ureter, pancreas, or small intestine
- Ashkenazi Jewish individuals with any ovarian cancer in the family, or any breast cancer diagnosed before age 50 in the family
If your family has other clusters of cancer, or if there is any cancer that was diagnosed at an unusually young age, contact us to see if you would be a candidate for genetic counseling.
You may also want to consider genetic counseling for yourself and family members if you have been diagnosed with a hereditary type of cancer, especially if the diagnosis was at an early age and/or you had no known risk factors.
Tips for Collecting Your Family History
- Try to find out the age at which your relatives were diagnosed with cancer. This is often the most important clue in identifying families with a hereditary cancer syndrome.
- Whenever possible, try to obtain the pathology reports, or other medical records from family members who have had a cancer diagnosis.
- If anyone in your family has already had genetic testing, ask for a copy of their test result to bring with you. This is very important to ensure that the right test is ordered in the event that you will be having genetic testing yourself.
Contact us
For more information, to make an appointment or to refer a patient, please call (858) 822-3240 or email cancer-genetics@ucsd.edu.
Moores UCSD Cancer Center
3855 Health Sciences Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093
(866) 773-2703 |