New guidelines for genetic testing should help more women and their relatives take steps to improve their odds against cancer that might run in the family.

All women who have had cancer of the breast, ovary, Fallopian tubes or peritoneum tissue in the walls of the abdomen should be offered a screening tool to determine their risk of mutation, new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidelines say.

The new recommendation removes a wording that limited testing to those diagnosed at younger ages.

Thats a pretty big thing, genetic counselor Kimberly Knapp said at Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center in Windber.

In the past, screening for breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 was recommended for women who developed breast or ovarian cancer before age 50 and others who had certain types of cancer before age 60.

Now, we dont have to age discriminate, Knapp said.

Anyone with a significant family history of breast or ovarian cancer should also consider genetic screening, which begins with a thorough review of family cancer history with a trained counselor, Knapp said.

Those women can contact breast cancer programs at several of the regions hospitals to find out more about their risk.

Genetic counselors will be able to help determine if they are eligible for genetic testing for the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations.

BRCA is shorthand for breast cancer, but the mutations are also associated with an increased risk of other cancers.

Genetic testing at Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center at Chan Soon-Shiong Medical Center at Windber tests for the BRCA gene, Knapp said.

Because researchers continually find more genetic links, Windber offers a genetic screening for a panel of almost 50 different mutations.

The new guidelines expand the pool of patients who are eligible for insurance coverage of the test, she said.

At Indiana Regional Medical Center, breast surgeon and genetic counselor Dr. Dan Clark works with families to screen for 24 gene mutations.

Screening is not just a yes or no. You get a report with four pages of results, he said at the hospital.

The report may recommend additional screenings for hereditary cancers, including breast, ovarian and colon cancer.

We know there are a lot of other cancers associated with genetics, he said.

But most cancer is not hereditary, he warned.

The American Cancer Society estimates between 5 percent and 10 percent of all cancers come from gene mutations passed on through families.

Clark fears heightened attention on genetic risk may cause women with breast cancer in their families to think they are not at risk, noting most breast cancer patients have no family history of the disease.

Link:
Genetic testing expanded to help those with disease in their families - Oskaloosa Herald

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