Paternal health 'disregarded in breast cancer cases'

25.10.2010 [14:55]
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Baku, October 25 (AZERTAC). Women at risk of breast cancer miss out on tests and early diagnosis because their father`s family`s health history is disregarded, a study has suggested.

Canadian researchers say in Lancet Oncology that women were more likely to report a history of the disease on their mother`s side. They found women with a maternal cancer history were five times more likely to be referred by family doctors. It is thought that between 5% and 10% of breast and ovarian cancers are the result of a genetic inheritance. This is equally likely to have come from either the father or mother. A significant chunk of this genetic risk is known to come from defects on either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which make it much more likely that a woman will develop breast or ovarian cancer in her lifetime.

If a woman has a strong family history of breast cancer, she can be referred for further testing to see if she has a known gene defect. She can then take steps to reduce the risk, or simply get checked more regularly to catch the cancer early. The Lancet Oncology research, led by Jeanna McCuaig from the Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, found that despite the equal chance of inheritance from mother or father, the maternal history seemed to be taken more seriously.

They concluded that there were two reasons for this - a lack of knowledge in women about the risks, and a similar problem among family doctors, who did not ask women about the history of breast cancer on their father`s side. She wrote: "Anecdotally, we know of two patients - a man with a substantial history of breast and ovarian cancer, and a woman with a known BRCA2 gene mutation in her paternal family - who were both falsely reassured by their healthcare providers that this history did not increase their, or their daughters` cancer risks. "The patients were not offered genetic assessment and testing or the appropriate medical options".

Paternal health 'disregarded in breast cancer cases'

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