What is hereditary breast and ovarian cancer?
Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) may be a possible diagnosis when there are multiple cases of breast cancer and/or ovarian cancer on the same side of the family. The chance that a family has HBOC increases when: • One or more women are diagnosed with breast cancer before age 50 • There is breast or ovarian cancer in multiple generations on the same side of the family (such as mother and daughter) • A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer twice or has both breast and ovarian cancers • A male relative is diagnosed with breast cancer What causes HBOC? HBOC is a genetic condition. This means that the cancer risk can be passed from generation to generation in a family. Two genes are associated with HBOC: BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA stands for BReast CAncer). A mutation (alteration) in either of these genes gives a woman an increased lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Men with these gene mutations also have an increased risk of breast cancer and for prostate cancer.
Related Questions
- I took the genetic test for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer already (the BRCA test). Will those test results tell me about tamoxifen, or do I still need to take the tamoxifen 2D6 test?
- How often are these cancers hereditary? How can an increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer be inherited?
- What is hereditary breast and ovarian cancer?
