There's cancer in the family.
BACKGROUND
Patients will sometimes raise the issue of cancer 'running in their family' or it may be identified by the general practitioner when enquiring about a patient's family history.


OBJECTIVE
This article discusses how to deal with concerns about familial cancers including details of the common familial cancer syndromes. It provides further sources of information to use when determining a patient's risk of cancer based on their family history.


CONCLUSIONS
The family history is an important predictor of cancer risk and can be used to tailor cancer prevention strategies and to identify high risk families who may be eligible for predictive genetic testing.
Discipline of General Practice, University of Western Australia, Australia. jon.emery@uwa.edu.au
Jon
J
Emery
Kristine
K
Barlow-Stewart
Sylvia A
SA
Metcalfe
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics; D003123:Colorectal Neoplasms, Hereditary Nonpolyposis / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D030342:Genetic Diseases, Inborn / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics*; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D010375:Pedigree; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D012307:Risk Factors