Hello Heth, and thank you for posting.

I'm sorry you feel you have mixed messages about the availability of genetic testing for you and your daughters.

It is difficult to say why other hospital trusts seem to have a different policy to yours. I would definitely suggest you discuss this further with your consultant so you understand why they feel you are not suitable for genetic testing.

On looking into it I've found two lots of guidance that both have different ages for eligibility criteria. The 2018 breast cancer guidelines from NICE (The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) for England and Wales say to offer genetic testing to women under 50 years with TNBC. But looking at the NHS England Genomics Health Education programme, which refers to the NHS England national genomic test directly, the criteria is given at TNBC under 60 - this was updated last October. I have linked to this which you could raise with your hospital team.

For your daughters, family history can increase the risk of breast cancer but most women who have a close relative with breast cancer will never develop it. Breast cancer is common anyway, 1 in 7 women develop breast cancer over their lifetime, but mostly at an older age (above 50).

So, we all carry some degree of ‘population' risk. In the UK, routine breast screening starts from 50 for most of us although there is a study asking some women from the age of 47. Some women whose risk is above average can start screening sooner. 

To find out if their breast cancer risk is enough above average to justify screening they need to talk to their GP. Depending on the family history their GP can refer them on to a breast clinic for a risk assessment.

I've posted here information from our website about testing.

It is also worth you and your daughters reading the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance for women with breast cancer in the family. You can find this here.

Please do get back to us if you have any more questions or give us a call us on 0808 800 4040. We are here from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Best wishes,

Sarah.

Thank you very much for the information Sarah. I have a consult with my BCN next week and my oncologist on 4th Feb so will discuss it up with them.

Regards,

Heaher