Friday, November 25, 2011

If Your Mother Had Breast Cancer, You're Supposed To Start Getting Mammograms 10 Years Before Her Diagnoses?

396545116 Is this correct? That is what my family doctor told me but when I mentioned it to my ob/gyn, they didn't seem to confirm or deny it. My mom was 44 when she was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer (not sure of the exact type) so I was told to start having them done at 34. I still have 9 years until that time but my sister is close to that age and wanted to ask. Thanks!
My mom's mom passed away from lung cancer and her only sister passed away at a young age from melanoma so there is no other family history. My family doctor said that any tests that would possibly show hereditary often give false positives so a mammogram is the best option.
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3 comments:

  1. rebesNovember 25, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    april - No, not unless it's confirmed hereditary breast cancer, as in several close relatives all diagnosed at a younger age than average and all with the same cancer.

    Then there is no reason to begin early. I didn't have my first one til last summer and won't have another till next summer.

    Testing for the hereditary brca gene does not lend a false positive and actually, most who have it won't get breast cancer.

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  2. rebesNovember 25, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    lo_mcg - If your mother had breast cancer, the advice is that you begin your routine mammograms when you are ten years younger than she was at diagnosis, yes.

    This is usually simply a precaution - it is advised even when the mother's cancer was not hereditary - only 5 - 10% of all breast cancer cases are hereditary,

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  3. rebesNovember 25, 2011 at 9:01 PM

    Denisedds - Any doctor should know that breast cancer screening is recommended when you are 10 years younger than your parent was at diagnosis. This has been the recommendation for as long as I can remember and Lo is correct it is a precaution.
    Breast cancer is not often hereditary and I find it disturbing a doctor would say that the test for hereditary breast cancer often show false positives as is simply not true. I do however, think there is a possibility in your case due to the age of your mother when she was diagnosed and the fact that her aunt had melanoma at a young age. BRCA2 increases the risk for melanoma, breast , ovarian and pancreatic cancers.

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