Familial cancer syndrome, Diagnostic Pathology: Familial Cancer Syndromes

TR Hereditary Cancer Syndromes: "The Angelina Effect" Angelina Jolie's announcement triggered an increase in the number of people in high risk being screened and this is a very important familial cancer syndrome so they can minimize the chances of the disease developing.

Since the year that the famous actor announced her prophylactic surgery the referrals for genetic testing and counselling familial cancer syndrome hereditary breast cancer were grown dramatically. This is very important news as it means that more high risk women are now being monitored or undergoing preventative treatment for breast cancer.

Angelina Jolie decided to undergo a double preventative mastectomy after being positive for the mutated BRCA1 gene which is known to be strongly linked to the high risk of developing breast cancer. Most of the cancer cases are sporadic, meaning they occur by chance with no known cause. Most women with breast and ovarian cancer do not have a Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome.

Therefore, the international guidelines strongly recommend that these women be referred for genetic testing. Also, people that are eligible with the Hereditary Cancer Risk Assays are people that had cancer at a young age, individuals with multiple primary tumors, multiple generations of a family with cancer, rare tumor incidence at any age, individuals with bilateral cancers etc.

It is developed and validated based on the most up-to-date international society guidelines and performed using the Advanced Next Generation Sequencing technology NGS. Knowledge of the risk for hereditary cancer syndromes provides physicians with several different options for the management of a patient and his relatives.