'It's not if I get cancer, it's when I get cancer': BRCA-positive patients' (un)certain health experiences regarding hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk

摘要

Rationale: Women with a harmful mutation in the BReast CAncer (BRCA) gene are at significantly increased risk of developing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer (HBOC) during their lifetime, compared to those without. Such patients-with a genetic predisposition to develop cancer but who have not yet been diagnosed with cancer-live in a constant state of uncertainty and wonder not if they might get cancer but when.