Family History

Hi Kim40

I am not sure how far doctors go back but I am considered to have a negative family history because the only other person who has had BC is my mother's first cousin.  She was diagnosed at 65 and I was diagnosed at 43.  So the docs don't really count that as a family history.  All of the women in my family also had hysterectomies due to fibroids.  Tamoxifen made me have rapidly growing fibroids so I joined the trend.  Will you be on Tamoxifen?

J

kim40, there are certain risk factors for inherited BC that a genetics counselor will look for.  The types of things that might suggest an inherited risk are any first-degree relatives (your siblings or parents) who had BC, relatives who had BC at a young age (earlier than 40 or 45 years of age), male relatives who developed BC, or women in your family who had ovarian cancer.

A genetics counselor will ask you about your family history of BC and ovarian cancer, and he/she will plug those numbers into a computer formula.  The formula will predict the likelihood that your cancer is due to an inherited predisposition (a mutation in BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 genes).

There are simplified versions of the computer formula available on line.  One is on the Myriad Genetics website--that's the company that does BRCA testing here in the U.S.:  http://www.myriadtests.com/provider/brca-risk-calculator.htm

The Myriad website also has data in table format that shows the likelihood of a BRCA mutation based on different combinations of BC occurrence in a family:  http://www.myriadtests.com/provider/brca-mutation-prevalence.htm

The low frequency of BC in your family is good news.  But, the best way to find out if your BC is inherited is to talk to a genetics counselor.  In the meantime, you could take a look at those links to see if there's anything helpful to you.

otter