Society of Gynecologic Oncologists Provides Guidelines for Offering Genetic Risk Assessment to Women With a Personal or Family History of Breast, Ovarian, Uterine or Colorectal Cancer.

CHICAGO, Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- In its Statement on Risk Assessment for Inherited Gynecologic Cancer Predispositions, the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists (SGO) provides concise guidelines, usable in a primary care setting, to guide physicians as to which women with a personal or family history of breast, gynecologic or colorectal cancer may benefit from a hereditary risk assessment.

SGO's Statement on Risk Assessment for Inherited Gynecologic Cancer Predispositions offers guidance as to who may benefit from a hereditary cancer risk assessment, as well as who may receive enhanced care as a result. The statement will be published in the November issue of Gynecologic Oncology (Elsevier Science) and will be made available online at http://www.sgo.org/ on October 17, 2007.

Currently, as many as 1 in 10 breast, gynecologic, and colorectal cancers are caused by hereditary predispositions that genetic testing can detect -- including those for the two most commonly encountered hereditary cancer syndromes, Hereditary Breast/Ovarian Cancer Syndrome (HBOC) and Lynch/Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome (HNPCC). Women with HBOC have up to a 65-85% risk for breast cancer and a 39-46% risk of ovarian cancer by age 70. Women with HNPCC have a 40-60% risk for both endometrial and colorectal cancer by age 70 and an increased risk for ovarian cancer. Genetic risk assessment offers women an individualized evaluation of their likelihood of having one of these cancer predisposition syndromes and gives physicians the opportunity to provide tailored screening and prevention strategies to ultimately reduce the risk of the morbidity and mortality associated with these diseases.

"SGO's Statement on Risk Assessment for Inherited Gynecologic Cancer Predispositions provides gynecologists, gynecologic oncologists and other women's primary care providers with clear, concise, usable guidelines for identifying who may benefit from a hereditary cancer risk assessment," says Dr. Noah Kauff, Gynecologist and Cancer Geneticist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. "There has been a significant interest in genetic risk assessment in both the medial and lay communities, but clear-cut criteria detailing who to assess for hereditary gynecologic cancer ...