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The management of women with a high risk of breast cancer

  • Chapter
Genetic Predisposition to Cancer

Abstract

The search for genes which predispose to inherited breast cancer has intensified with the cloning of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. This presents doctors with a new dilemma in the management of healthy women, at very high risk but with no clinical evidence of a disease. For many years we have been able to identify an increased risk of developing breast cancer because of a family history and this has encouraged us to develop clinical trials of intervention strategies for these people. Clearly, the problems of conducting these trials will become more difficult when we are able to identify subgroups of healthy women at very high risk, in whom randomized clinical trials may be unacceptable. On the other hand, offering them untested treatments such as mastectomy, ovarian ablation or even tamoxifen is confounded by the risks that these interventions may be either ineffective or unnecessary.

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Authors
  1. Trevor J. Powles
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  2. Mary E. R. O’Brien
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  3. Timothy I. Davidson
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  4. Nigel P. M. Sacks
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Genetics and Clinical Oncology, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, UK

    Rosalind A. Eeles (Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant) (Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant)

  2. CRC Human Cancer Genetics Research Group, University of Cambridge, UK

    Bruce A. J. Ponder (Director) (Director)

  3. CRC Genetic Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, UK

    Douglas F. Easton (Director) (Director)

  4. Academic Unit of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, Surrey, UK

    Alan Horwich (Director of Clinical Research) (Director of Clinical Research)

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© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Powles, T.J., O’Brien, M.E.R., Davidson, T.I., Sacks, N.P.M. (1996). The management of women with a high risk of breast cancer. In: Eeles, R.A., Ponder, B.A.J., Easton, D.F., Horwich, A. (eds) Genetic Predisposition to Cancer. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-4501-3_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-4501-3_17

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-56580-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-4501-3

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