Genetic Testing

Each year, more than 192,000 American women learn they have breast cancer. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of these women have a hereditary form of the disease. Changes, called alterations or mutations, in certain genes make some women more susceptible to developing breast and other types of cancer. Inherited alterations in the genes called BRCA1 and BRCA2 (short for breast cancer 1 and breast cancer 2) are involved in many cases of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Our genes are inherited from our parents. We inherit two copies of each gene, one from our mother and one from our father. Although all cancers occur because of changes in a person's genes, most cancers are not hereditary. However, having a hereditary predisposition may determine a person's genetic susceptibility for cancer. Being predisposed to a disease doesn't necessarily mean you will get the disease. It just means you have an increased risk of getting the disease.

Well, I got the disease and since my Aunt and Grandmother both had breast cancer I have opted to go for genetic testing. Is there a common link between our cancer's? Am I carrying the mutated gene? What about my dad? It was his mother and his sister that had breast cancer - is he at risk for developing a cancer at age 73? What about my brother's? What about my children?

I've put some thought into the possibility of me being positive for BRCA1 and/or BRCA2. Some of that thought is whether or not to have my ovaries removed (oophorectomy). Why, you may ask? - - because, removing one's ovaries greatly reduces the amount of hormones (estrogen and progesterone) from circulating in your body. This can halt or slow breast cancers that need these hormones to grow.

If you have a BRCA mutation, prophylactic oophorectomy reduces your risk of breast cancer by about 50 percent if you're premenopausal, and it reduces your risk of ovarian cancer by 80 percent or more — regardless of your menopausal status.

I have a lot to think about.