Genetics

My mom was diagnosed and was treated for spinal cell carcinoma of the breast.  My father died of oat cell carcinoma. I am 58 and yesterday while having my annual exam the doctor asked me if the 2 carcimomas are genetic.  I have no idea and had never ask.  Is it genetic and should I and my 2 children be screened or tested?

[Cleveland Clinic]

Dear jkh58, Hereditary cancer syndromes are relatively uncommon, accounting for only about 5 to 10 percent of all cancers.  Even in families where there seems to be a lot of cancers through the generations, the causes are multi-factoral and may not be related at all to a specific genetic abnormality.   If your mother’s breast cancer was diagnosed when she was pre-menopausal, or if there were several members of her family with early cancers it would be of more concern for possibility of a genetic abnormality and fitting into a hereditary syndrome.  Oat cell carcinoma (a type of small cell lung cancer) is not usually associated with a hereditary cancer syndrome. Risk factors for this type of cancer are more environmental such as smoking, or radon exposure.   If there is concern for a hereditary cancer syndrome, a consultation with a genetics counselor may be helpful in order to help sort out whether genetics testing is appropriate as well as give recommendations for screenings etc.  Genetics counselors are usually associated with medical genetics departments in larger academic institutions.