Your Family Medical History and Breast Cancer

If you discover that family members, including male relatives, have had breast cancer,
you can talk to your doctor about whether you should be monitored for related cancers like ovarian cancer.

Even if you find out that no one else has had cancer, your family will know that screening is important and may be more likely to screen for cancer as recommended.

First you should know what the "high risk indicators" are:

In most families, even when several cancers have been diagnosed in different members of the family, the cancers are NOT due to an inherited genetic problem. Strong hereditary factors that increase cancer risk are more likely to be found in families that have:

• Family members diagnosed with cancer at a younger than expected age (for example, breast cancer at age 40 or prostate cancer at age 50)
• Three or more generations affected with cancer
• Three or more cancers on the same side of the family
• Family members diagnosed with two or more different kinds of cancer (such as a woman who has had both breast and ovarian cancer)
• Cancers of the breast, prostate, ovary or colon before the age of 50
• Two or more members of the family diagnosed with melanoma

If You Don't Know Your Family's Medical History, Try to Talk to Family Members

If you don't know this information or need to know more, then talking to family is a next step. However, talking to family about health problems can sometimes bring up uncomfortable feelings. Often family members think the information is too "private" to share, or perhaps, they are still grieving a death of a loved one and have a difficult time talking about it. At its best it can be an opportunity for you to learn about the strengths of your family and to share what you learn with other family members.

Family Medical History Checklist

Here is a checklist to help you get going on researching your family's medical history by starting conversations with your relatives.

Select a family member whom you trust and who is easy for your first conversation. Is there an aunt or an uncle whom you trust and who knows a great deal of family history? If so, begin with their knowledge, and then ask who else you should talk to.

Take research into your family medical history on as a family project. Ask the relatives that you talk with if they want to know the outcome of your research. The family could unite behind a common cause of information seeking to improve the overall health of the entire extended family.

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Talk to the cancer survivors in your family. If at all possible, talk to any cancer survivors in your family about their cancer journey. They will know most about their own medical history.

Accept gaps in your information. You may find that some family members will not be comfortable talking about illness and deceased relatives, perhaps because of grief or generational differences.

Share the information with others in your family and educate your family on what you find. Make copies for all family members who are interested.

Research what steps family members can take to decrease their risk of cancer.

Encourage family members to follow cancer screening and detection guidelines and take other steps to decrease their cancer risk, even if you do not find a significant family history of cancer.