Predictive testing for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer: its effec...( ian cancer or if a family member dies ...)

On the other hand, I think more women chose to have a prophylactic oophorectomy after a positive test result because ovarian cancer is much harder to detect when in its early stages and much harder to treat successfully once it is more advanced; so the women opted for safety by having their ovaries removed, probably helped in their decision by the fact that the operation doesnt leave an obvious physical disfigurement in the way that a mastectomy does.

Ms Claes believes that the lack of change in distress levels between women who were carriers and non-carriers, and before and after the predictive genetic testing is due to a number of reasons. The fact that the women received extensive counselling before and after the results may have made a difference. The fact that women who opt for predictive genetic testing may be worried about their risk, does not necessarily mean that this is the major or only reason to be tested. The most important arguments for testing are: wanting to know whether regular medical examinations of the breast or ovaries are needed or not, to decide about prophylactic surgery, wanting to know whether the children have an increased risk, reducing uncertainty. Moreover, psychological models suggest that distress due to perceived high risk or perceived severity of the disease can be diminished when there are possibilities available to control the threat. In addition, it may be that a self-selected group of women opt for predictive testing, namely those who can cope in some way with the genetic risk and who already have adjusted in some way to their increased risk. However, there may also be a tendency to minimize the emotional impact of the test result. The mean distress levels may not differ statistically, but this does not mean that there is not a vulnerable group. Therefore we try to delineate the subgroup of women who could be vulnerable to distress and look for variabl
'"/>

Contact: Emma Mason
wordmason@aol.com
44-7711-296-986
Federation of European Cancer Societies
20-Mar-2002