Cancer Genetic Counseling Program

General Info
Locations

The Cancer Genetic Counseling Program at Yale Cancer Center is a clinical program that provides services to individuals at high risk for hereditary cancer syndromes due to their personal or family histories of cancer. This program is based on a three-part counseling model consisting of

1. Obtaining a detailed medical and three-generation family history

2. Calculating a personalized risk assessment and providing options for prevention, surveillance, and genetic testing (e.g. BRCA1, BRCA2, HNPCC)

3. Coordinating and interpreting genetic testing, and developing a management plan based on the test results

The Cancer Genetic Counseling Program offers educational lectures and programs to medical and lay groups, and is a shared resource that can provide patient populations, clinical and technical support to research projects in the area of cancer genetics.

You may be a candidate for genetic counseling and testing if you have a personal or family history of any of the following:

Early-onset cancer (breast cancer or colon/uterine cancer).
Multiple cases of related cancers on the same side of the family or in the same individual (breast/ovarian/pancreatic cancer or colon/uterine/ovarian cancer).
A family history of breast or ovarian cancer at any age and Jewish ancestry.
Rare or unusual cancers/tumors/physical findings (male breast cancer, medullary thyroid cancer or sebaceous carcinomas).
Individuals with multiple and/or early-onset colon polyps.
A colon, uterine or sebaceous carcinoma that is MSI (microsatellite instability) or IHC (immunohistochemistry) abnormal.
Known genetic mutation in the family (e.g. BRCA1, BRCA2, HNPCC, FAP, etc.).