my grandma had breast cancer twice and my mom hasnt had it yet, what are the chances of me getting it? and does your breast size have anything to do with it?
Cancer - 2 Answers
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1 :
Hi there, I'm sorry to hear about your grandma's past illness with breast cancer. I'm not sure what country you live in, but I'm in the UK and am only familiar with the statistics for this country - although I'm sure they are much the same in the US. As you know, breast cancer is an illness that has a strong genetic component in some families, and typically in these cases several women of each generation will be affected by the disease. In other cases, a woman will develop breast cancer without any other known relatives being affected - this is considered to be a sporadic case of the disease as it is not readily attributable to the presence of any one specific gene. The best known breast cancer genes are called BRCA1 and BRCA2 (which stands for BReast CAncer 1 and 2 respectively), and typically individuals who are carriers of one of these genes, and who go on to develop the disease, will do so at an earlier age than those who aren't carrying the gene but have developed the cancer sporadically - I hope that makes sense. It's important to note that just because a person has a BRCA gene in their genome, doesn't mean they will definitely get breast cancer, but statistically speaking they have a higher risk of doing so. Unfortunately breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, and 1 in 9 women will suffer from it at some stage in their lives, whether they have a BRCA gene or not, so within any family it is very likely that there will be at least one female who gets it at some point, such as your grandma, but this doesn't mean that she is a carrier of the BRCA gene, and thus the risk of your mother or you getting the disease is no greater than that of the general population. In other words, her having cancer doesn't increase your risk of also getting it. In the UK, 1 in 9 (11% risk) women get breast cancer at some time in their life. The risk is low when you are young and increases with age, peaking at around 70 years old, which is why so many elderly women have it. Fortunately, the severity of the disease gets less with age, so the older you are when you get it, the better the chances of survival and indeed many of these cancers are successfully treated. For women who are carriers of the BRCA genes, they tend to get the disease earlier in life,usually in their early 40s, and these cancers are usually much more aggressive which is why it is so important to have regular breast screening and practice self-examination, because the sooner the cancer is treated the better the chances of recovery. The only way to know if there is a BRCA gene in the family is to have a genetic test for it - but there are several factors that will suggest the likelihood of it being present. The age at which someone gets the cancer is a good indicator - typically a geneticist won't suspect a genetic link unless an individual has 2 first-degree relatives (ie. mother or sister) who both had or have breast cancer and who are both under the age of 45 years, or if you have only one other first degree relative, under the age of 45 years who has bilateral breast cancer (both breasts affected) - these are strong indicators that it may be genetic. I hope this has made sense, basically, unless there is a strong family history of breast cancer, which affects the women in your family before they are 45 years, it is unlikely that the BRCA gene is in the bloodline, and therefore your risk is no different from that of the population as a whole, which in the UK is 1 in 9. If, however, the BRCA gene is present, and there are several close relatives who have had the disease, then the risk of developing breast cancer is much higher, about 6 in 10 (60%). With regards to breast size, there are many factors that seem to increase the risk of breast cancer somehow, but I don't believe breast size to be one of them - the only difficulty here could be for women with large breasts that may make it more difficult to notice any lumps or changes when performing self-examination, and as a result they may not spot the cancer as quickly as a smaller breasted woman. I hope this helps a bit, and take care - best wishes - Jim
2 :
The fact you grandmother had breast cancer does not increase your risk for it and breast size does not affect your risk one way or the other either. At age 55 all women have a 1 in 33 chance of getting breast cancer and by 80 it is a 1 in 8 chance
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