Alert for those with sisters

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anneflorida
anneflorida Member Posts: 59
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

My sister who does not have breast cancer went to a breast specialist today to check on her risk of breast cancer.  It turns out that because of her age(55) and the fact that her sister(me) has breast cancer that her risk is 23% during her lifetime.  She has no kids which is a risk factor but I am the biggest factor.  The doctor suggested aromasin which has just been approved for preventive use.  There is a new study that found that high risk women who took aromasin for 3 years reduced their risk by 65% life time.  She is going to take the aromasin.

 I would suggest for everyone with sisters to recommend that they be evaluated at a medical center with a breast clinic and see what might help them not develop breast cancer.  My sister is also going to have a yearly MRI along with her mammogram.  At least our sisters have a warning that perhaps we did not have before the breast cancer.

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  • jennyboog
    jennyboog Member Posts: 1,322
    edited May 2012

    Thanks Anne...nice to know. 

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  • caaclark
    caaclark Member Posts: 936
    edited May 2012

    Anne,

    I have a fraternal twin sister and she is taking tamoxifen and having a mammo every year and an MRI every year so she is being watched carefully as well.  Same with my sister- no kids. 

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  • fredntan
    fredntan Member Posts: 1,821
    edited May 2012

    Thanks for the info. Will pass it on to her. Mine went to johns hopkins and seems like they just blew her off. Just had mammo. Which i dont trust anymore

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  • MaxineO
    MaxineO Member Posts: 555
    edited May 2012

    Excellent reminder.

    My sister definitely got a second look after my diagnosis. Referred to a breast center and they requested copies of my BRCA test for her file.

    And ladies, not only sisters, but daughters, nieces, etc.  Even without BRCA+, sometimes BC tendencies run in families.

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  • 116
    116 Member Posts: 108
    edited December 2012

    caaclark - I have a faternal twin sister too. She has never had kids, but had her ovaries removed years ago during a hysterectomy due to enodmetriosis. Not sure if that improves her odds or not? I tested negative for the BRCA, but my mom had BC, her mother died of BC at age 45 when my mom was only 19 years old, and her mother's sister also died from BC in her 60s. They were my only female relatives on my mom's side so I knew that three out of three was not good odds for me. I was 45 at diagnosis (had been getting yearly mamos since my early 30s). I have a feeling that they do not know all the genetic links yet. I have two other sisters too who have alerted thier doctors but so far nothing has been offered to any of them in the way of prevention that I know of.

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  • coraleliz
    coraleliz Member Posts: 1,523
    edited May 2012

    This interests me even though I'm not stage III. I have 2 sisters, niether had kids. I thought they may need increased surveillance. I hope our cancers will mean our sisters don't have to fight insurance companies for MRIs & additional monitoring.

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