Children of Cancer Patients Survival Rates of Same CA

Anonymous

From Yahoo News:

"

Children whose parents beat certain types of cancer have a better chance of doing the same if they get the disease themselves, according to a Swedish study suggesting that survival traits are passed on.

The research, published in the November issue of Lancet Oncology, said good survival -- defined as living for at least 10 years past the cancer diagnosis -- extended to breast, lung, prostate and colorectal cancers.

Both genetic and environmental factors likely play a role, said researchers, who used a database of more than 3 million families.

Children with the same cancer as a parent who died within 10 years of diagnosis had a much bleaker outlook compared to children whose parents survived longer after developing the disease, the study found.

For these people, the risk of dying from the same disease as their parents was 75 percent higher for breast cancer, 107 percent for prostate cancer, 44 percent for colorectal cancer and 39 percent for lung cancer.

"(The) findings, if confirmed, might have practical implications for family members and their physicians," Ora Paltiel, a researcher at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centre in Jerusalem, wrote in a commentary.

"For example, additional useful information might now be available for children who have a parent affected by a rapidly fatal cancer, which could act as a basis for specific therapeutic and preventative decisions."

Cancer is the second-largest cause of disease-related death in the developed world and kills more than 7 million people each year globally, according to the World Health Organization. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death.

Knowledge that some families are prone to poor survival could provide doctors with a vital tool to predict more accurately how quickly a tumor will grow when an individual is diagnosed with cancer, other researchers said."

Pharmmom

My mom was diagnosed with BC in 1988 and she's still alive and doing great.  Glad to hear it.  I'm 5 years out. 

Fitztwins

I think it is a crock of crap! Sorry. My mom is a 17 year survivor. Yes, that is wonderful. My cancer had spread to the lymph nodes, hers didn't.

Shelly's mom had cancer. Still say it is a crap shoot!

Janis

Anonymous

Your mom's might have been caught way earlier than yours.  And I THOUGHT that Shellie's cancer went untreated due to misdiagnosis????  Didn't they say they thought it wasn't cancer and didn't do a biopsy??

I hope you follow in your mom's footsteps!  17 years going on 18 next! 

my3girls

Rocktobermom...I hope the news article is accurate.  Cancer is nowhere in my family, yet I got BC this past March.  I have 3 daughters, and I hope and pray they never have to go through this.  But if they do, I pray that it does not spread. I have had 22 nodes removed as well as my left breast, and thank God all nodes were clear! I still have years to go, to be sure it does not come back.  I hope I can be like Fitztwins's mother and say 17 years later...STILL CANCER FREE! This is a scary road.....but I have faith...

Candyce

I am unnerved by this.  My Mom got BC and 42 and died at 51.  I got it at 51 despite yearly mammos.  I tested postive for BRCA2 gene mutation.

So for me I hope it is NOT accurate.  Or that there is a cure in sight.  Or that I am in the 25 % that does not get it.

However I am not one bit surprised at this.  And I do appreciate the info and thank you for posting it.

Candyce

Anonymous

Candyce, after I posted it, I thought if I had colorectal cancer, I'd be having panic attacks.  One thing about bc is that we have come a long way, but I am stage 1, node negative and still have panic attacks.

You developed bc at a much later age than your mom, thankfully. 

Candyce

What a relief you did not have colorectal cancer!!

When I was diagnosed the hardest thing for me was that my Mom succombed to BC.  Mentally, it was a heavy weight.  Yet, another thing happened...I felt such a bond with her.  When I reread her letters I understood now what I did not then.

Thinking of you!

Candyce