Mom worries about husband’s family history of breast cancer

While a mother has no family history of breast cancer, her husband's family does, which leads to a question: should the couple's daughter undergo extensive genetic testing to determine whether she is prone to getting breast cancer?

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Lifestyle

June 20, 2022 - 12:56 PM

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Dear Dr. Donohue: I am concerned that my 33-year-old daughter will have breast cancer. I have no history in my family of breast cancer, but my husband’s grandmother, mother and sister all have had breast cancer with double mastectomies. I have heard that the DNA follows the mother’s side and not the father’s. Is this true or an old wives’ tale? Should she have a BRCA test? — D.C.

Answer: Most cases of breast cancer are sporadic, meaning there is no particular identifiable family risk to develop breast cancer. However, there are…

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