2 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Ask Anything Wednesday - Biology, Chemistry, Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology
Medicine/Biology: When preventing or diagnosing cancer we often get asked if there's cancer history in our family. My dad died from gastric cancer. My skin is very pale and I asked for two black spots on it to get removed in order to prevent skin cancer.
Does my dad having cancer of any kind increases the chances of his descendants getting any kind of cancer? Or does him having gastric cancer only increases the chances of his descendants getting that specific type of cancer? How does that work/why is cancer history in the family important?
Comment by aTacoParty at 15/03/2023 at 19:53 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Certain cancers are caused by risk factors in your genes while other cancers are caused by mostly environmental causes. Colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer are the three most heritable cancers. Though the majority of these cancers are caused by environmental or unknown reasons. Other cancers like skin cancer are nearly entirely caused by environmental exposures (like UV radiation and sun burns).
Doctors ask about family history of the heritable cancers as we can screen people at higher risk more frequently. For example, if a patient's parent was diagnosed with colon cancer at the age of 40, the doctor might suggest beginning colonoscopies for the patient at the age of 30 while the general public wouldn't begin colonoscopy screening until ~50.