A recent article details who should be tested for the BRCA mutation. If you are anything like me, you are tempted to request being tested for EVERYTHING. According to the article, here's a list of who should be tested.
Doctors recommend genetic testing for those who have:
- High numbers of family members with cancer diagnoses throughout several generations, either maternal or paternal
- Family member diagnosed with cancer before age 50
- Family members who have been diagnosed with multiple cancers (for example, breast and ovarian)
- Male breast cancers, or clusters of other cancers such as colon, prostate, stomach or pancreatic
1 comments:
Let's add one more although blatantly obvious... those who have had a family member test positive for one of the BRCA genes.
As soon as I found out I was, and I wasn't surprised as I fit into at least two of those other categories, I contacted my parents, siblings and particularly cousins from the side of the family where it makes the most sense for it to have come from. The only branch of my family with cancer.
They haven't been tested yet but it is information they can actually use. Some day my kids will know there is a chance they have it and can decide what to do with that info as well....
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