Question re Breast Cancer Gene

[Heretic Horn]

I am curious to what you might think about testing for the breast cancer gene.

Unfortunately my elementary age daughters may have inherited this gene. I am struck by a desire to know more about this possible risk and a fear that not much can currently done to mitigate the risk. What's the use in knowing if you can't impact the outcome, aside from addressing contributing factors like weight, diet, etc?

Docs or anyone who has struggled with this dilemma are welcome to chime in here. Thanks.

 

[WhoseHouse]

Women who test positive for the gene sometimes get masectomies, because they would rather go through that than get breat cancer. I think it's only the women at extremely high risk that do this. As far as I know, this is the only way to change their risk after finding out they have the genes. My knowlege is limited, but I don't see any reason to test your daughters at a young age. I would personally wait until they are old enough to make the choice themselves, maybe in their late teens or early twenties.

 

[MaduroUTMB]

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[Uninformed]

I can give you a long answer when I have time. I have developed FDA approved diagnostics and my general opinion is that if there is no treatment, then testing does little good. With BRCA1 and BRCA2 there may be things that can be done to mitigate the disease process, so it is probably a good idea to get tested. Go to the Myriad Genetic's web page and I am pretty confident that they have some reasons to get tested. Of course, the information that you will obtain will be biased. So you should also see if Fox Chase, MD Anderson, National Cancer Institute - NCI (probably first place to look), American Cancer Society (2nd best choice) and Dana Farber provide info. I can help you sort through it if you would like. Good luck.

 

[Heretic Horn]

Thank you sincerely to all who responded. I lost my mother and sister to breast cancer at relatively young ages. I would like nothing more in life than helping my daughters to avoid this terrible disease.

 

[Uninformed]

Here is what Myriad says:

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