What are the signs?

If you are apprehensive about the possibility of your family having hereditary breast cancer, remember that these are very rare – just 5-10% of all breast cancers.

These are families with unique characteristics:

• Where several people from the same side of the family (either maternal or paternal) had cancer;
• Where those affected are mostly young women before menopause (usually around the age of 35/40);
• Where men might also have breast cancer;
• Where might exist bilateral cancers
   (for example when both breast are affected);
• Where might occur cancer recurrence
  (when a 2nd tumor appears where a 1st one has already been treated);
• Where breast cancer can be associated with other types of cancers:

                  a)  Women with a mutation in the BRAC gene also have an increased chance of ovarian cancer
                  b)   Men with a mutation in the BRAC genes have higher risk of prostate cancer ;
                  c)   In the Li-Fraumeni e Cowden syndrome, breast cancer is associated with multiple other cancers that can emerge early in life. .