Ask The Right Questions

A commitment to screening patients at risk for Lynch syndrome may be the most critical step in helping to change hereditary cancer outcomes. By asking the right, simple questions, you can uncover "red flags" in a patient's personal or family history suggesting that further testing may be appropriate. If hereditary cancer appears to run in a patient's family, here are important questions to ask:

• Has any family member, mother or father's side, had colon cancer before age 50?
• Has any family member, mother or father's side, had endometrial cancer before age 50?
• Have you or a family member had two or more Lynch syndrome-associated cancers at any age?
• Has a Lynch syndrome mutation ever been identified in any family member?

If a patient answers "yes" to one or more of these questions, they may be candidates for hereditary cancer testing.