Expert: Claes-Gustaf Nordquist, M.D. - 7/11/2009

Question
I am, 44 yrs old and at 34 was diagnosed with dcis (and lcis) and had lumpectomy and radiation.  I did not go on tamoxiphen as I just could not make the decision 100% to do it.  At my last visit I could still take Tamoxiphen if I choose to,but I would have to do so quickly.  I previously had no family history of breast cancer until now.  My mom is 73 and just diagnosed last week with 2 tumors.  I do not know staging or anymore details at this time.  I was just wondering how much more this raised my risk of reoccurence.  They did not do genetic testing on my dcis so I do not know if I have it.  Should I call my oncologist right away to tell them of my mom's diagnosis?

Answer
Did they do hormone receptor analysis of your lesion when you were operated? If your lesion did not have any hormone receptors there is no use in doing any hormone treatment. Well you may have inherited genes for breast cancer from your mother. In that case she was at an increased risk too which now has given this result. But that in itself would not increase your risk now any further. As a cancer victim you have already a somewhat higher risk of a new breast cancer. And the fact that you had had breast cancer increased the risk of your mother! You should tell your oncologist but it is not a very urgent matter as long as you have no tumor signs or symptoms. Most breast cancer cases have no known genetic background so they can not be tested for any risks - or rather they can be tested but the results are most often inconclusive.