Can you still get breast cancer without the BRCA gene?
Genetic testing gives people the chance to learn if their breast cancer or family history of breast cancer is due to an inherited gene mutation. Most women who get breast cancer don’t have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 inherited gene mutation.
Can you still get cancer if you don’t have the gene?
No genetic test can say if you will develop cancer for sure. But it can tell you if you have a higher risk than most people. Only some people with a gene mutation will develop cancer.
What happens if you test positive for BRCA?
A positive test result means that you have a mutation in one of the breast cancer genes, BRCA1 or BRCA2, and therefore a much higher risk of developing breast cancer or ovarian cancer compared with someone who doesn’t have the mutation. But a positive result doesn’t mean you’re certain to develop cancer.
Will I get breast cancer if my grandma had it?
If one or more of these relatives has had breast or ovarian cancer, your own risk is significantly increased. If a grandmother, aunt or cousin has been diagnosed with the disease, however, your personal risk is usually not significantly changed, unless many of these “secondary” relatives have had the disease.
Will I get cancer if both my parents had it?
This doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get cancer if some of your close family members have it, but that you may have an increased risk of developing certain cancers compared to other people. It’s estimated that between 3 and 10 in every 100 cancers are associated with an inherited faulty gene.
Is breast cancer inherited from mother or father?
About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, meaning that they result directly from gene changes (mutations) passed on from a parent. BRCA1 and BRCA2: The most common cause of hereditary breast cancer is an inherited mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
At what age should BRCA testing be done?
I typically encourage that children of BRCA carriers wait until they are closer to the age that a BRCA mutation would change their medical management, which is 25 years of age for women and mid-30’s to early 40’s for men.
What age can you be tested for BRCA?
Although these measures are imperfect and not always acceptable, they do provide a means to reduce the cancer risks facing women with BRCA1 mutations [2-6]. Current practice standards recommend that these women start screening in early adulthood (25-35 years) [7].
What decisions would you make if you tested positive for BRCA1 or BRCA2?
If you test positive for an abnormal BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 gene and you have never had breast cancer, you now know that you are at much higher-than-average risk of developing it over the course of your lifetime. The average lifetime risk of breast cancer for women is about 12%.