Genetic counseling for cancer predisposition, risk assessment, and testing

摘要

This is the third and final in a series of articles on genetic counseling. The first article (Vol. 24, No. 3, 1998) presented information on the counselors' professional society, the educational requirements for counselors, and counseling in the prenatal setting. The second article (Vol. 25, No. 4, 1999) focused on counseling children and adults with genetic conditions and included short case reports illustrating how the counselor works with patients and their families to make medical and reproductive decisions. This final article addresses counseling in cancer and discusses cancer-related genes, the various factors involved in risk assessment, risk calculation methodology, who should be tested, and the benefits, limitations, and negative consequences of genetic testing in cancer.