Lynch syndrome, an Inherited Syndrome
Today the speaker at Kiwanis spoke on Lynch Syndrome. I thought it was very interesting because it came up at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium that I went to early in December at one of the booths. I had a discussion with someone there about it. We never have speakers on cancer. Colon cancer is caught early is a cancer that can be treated.
I learned today that colon cancer in families and endrometrial cancer in families can indicate Lynch Syndrome. I know in my family there were 6 people who had endrometrial cancer. If one is not tested they may not know that they are at risk. Some people in a family are at risk and others are not. Those at risk need to be tested periodically. Other cancers are associated with Lynch syndrome but colon and endrometrial or uterine are the biggies.
Did you know that it is important to know your families cancer history? There are red flags for hereditary cancer. Know what your relatives died from and what disease they had. Make a family history chart. This will help if you meet with a genetic counselor. These red flags include:
colon or rectal cancer under 50
endrometrial cancer under age 50
two or more lynch syndrome cancers at any age in the same person
two or more family members with a lynch syndrome cancer, on the same side of the family one under age 50
three or more family members with lynch syndrome cancer on the same side of the family at any age
a previously identified lynch syndrome mutation in the family
breast cancer diagnosed at age 50 or younger
ovarian cancer at any age
two primary breast cancers
male breast cancer
triple negative breast cancer
pancreatic cancer with a breast or ovarian cancer
Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry with an HBOC associted cancer
two or more relatives with breast cancer, one under 50
two or more relatives with breast cancer at any age
a previously identified BRCA mutation in the family
Lynch Syndrome: colon, uterine (endrometrial cancer), some ovarian cancer
Lynch Syndrome cancers include colorectal, endrometrial, ovarian, gastric, ureter/renal pelvis, biliary tract, small bowel, pancreas, brain, sebaceous adenomas
HBOC Syndrome:
Risk from BRCA gene mutations, risk from a 2nd breast cancer with BRCA gene mutation, risk for ovarian cancer with a BRCA gene mutation.
HBOC cancers include breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers.
