Genetic Testing

Infirmary Health Cancer Care offers a comprehensive Cancer Genetics Program to educate and evaluate your personal and family history of cancer.

What Is Genetic Testing?

Genetic testing looks for specific inherited changes (mutations) in a person’s DNA. Genetic mutations can have harmful, beneficial, neutral (no effect), or uncertain effects on health. Harmful mutations may increase a person’s chance, or risk, of developing a disease such as cancer. Overall, inherited mutations are thought to play a role in about 5 to 10 percent of all cancers.

What Genetic Tests Are Available for Assessing Cancer Risks?

More than 50 hereditary cancer syndromes have been identified. The majority of these are caused by strong mutations that are inherited.

Cancer types that may be inherited include:

Breast
Ovarian
Prostate
Pancreatic
Osteosarcoma (bone cancer)
Leukemia
Adrenocortical carcinoma (cancer of the adrenal glands)
Endometrial
Colorectal
Non-malignant colon polyps
Eye cancer (cancer of the retina)
Pinealoma (cancer of the pineal gland)
Melanoma
Medullary thyroid cancer
Pheochromocytoma (benign adrenal gland tumor)
Kidney

Who Should Consider Genetic Counseling for Cancer Risk?

Individuals diagnosed with cancer at an unusually young age
Multiple primary cancers in the same person
The person being tested has a personal or family history that suggests an inherited cancer risk condition
Multiple relatives that have the same type of cancer (for example, a mother, daughter, and sisters with breast cancer)
Unusual cases of a specific cancer type (for example, breast cancer in a man)