The Search for Unaffected Individuals with Lynch Syndrome: Do the Ends Justify the Means?

摘要

Lynch syndrome is the most common cause of inherited colorectal and endometrial cancers yet it is under-recognized in clinical practice. The relative merits of screening for Lynch syndrome among healthy adults without cancer versus among adults with colorectal or endometrial cancer are discussed in this Perspectives article. Newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients are a much easier target population for screening and leads to more informative genetic test results, at a lower cost in most cases.