Breast Unit

Family History Breast Screening Service

The family history team - left to right; Alison Smith, Katherine Knight, Diana Dalgliesh, Kate Hope

The Family History Breast Clinic offers screening and advice to women who have a significant family history of breast cancer. Currently we undertake annual mammogram screening on over 700 women.

If you are aware of a family history of breast cancer, it is important to remember that:

1. most women with breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease
2. Only about 10% of breast cancers are hereditary, and less than half of those are due to a known gene fault (mutation)
3. "The great majority of women with a relative with breast cancer are not at substantially increased risk of breast cancer themselves"
   (NICE Guidelines for Familial Breast Cancer, 2006)

Services offered by the Family History Breast Clinic include:

• Advice to doctors and affected families
• Full consultation
• Breast screening which may involve:
  1. Annual Digital mammography
  2. Breast MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) – for very high risk women
• Assessment for referral to the Clinical Genetics Department

The usual route of referral is through your GP or another doctor such as a breast surgeon or Oncologist. A number of factors are considered when deciding who is at high enough risk to warrant referral.

Next Section: Referral Process