Hi

annafield

Hi, my name is Angela and I'm 30 years old. We've had a few cases of breast cancer in my family and I'm afraid I might be in a risk group. Which tests would you recommend to me as a check-up?

Icietla

Hi Angela. While some have more of the known risk factors, everyone is at risk for breast cancer.

You should do monthly self-examination, and you should also have regular check-ups with your Doctor examining your breasts. You should inform your Doctor of your family history concerns, in case that will bear on when you are to start having regular medical imaging done on your breasts. When you start having mammograms (and/or ultrasounds), you should continue to have those annually, unless your Doctor advises that they should be more frequent. If you find any changes that concern you, see your Doctor.

Depending on the pattern/s of breast and other cancers in your family, you may want to have genetic testing which can identify genes known to be associated with some familial cancer patterns. Understand, though, breast cancer does not require any of those known cancer-associated genes.