About 5-7% of colorectal cancer patients inherited a gene mutation that greatly increased their lifetime risk.
What if you had a crystal ball that told whether you and your family are more likely to face colorectal cancer?
Unfortunately, we don’t have a crystal ball — or its medical equivalent — quite yet, but knowing about your family history and any hereditary genetic conditions can help you stay ahead of the game.
The most common types of hereditary colorectal cancer are:
There are three subgroups of risk for cancer.
If you fall into the sporadic group, which means you have no family history of cancer or inherited genetic predisposition, you have about a one in 24 chance of getting colorectal cancer.
If you have familial risk, meaning an immediate family member has the disease, your lifetime risk increases to 10 to 20 percent.
Those who have the highest lifetime risk of colorectal cancer are in the hereditary subgroup. Depending on the particular genetic syndrome, the chances of getting colorectal cancer may be 30 to 100 percent.
Screening is the most important thing you can do to prevent colorectal cancer because it finds cancer in the early stages. Talk to your healthcare provider about your personal genetic risks.
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