Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/41261

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Title
Lessons from the skin: cutaneous features of familial cancer
Author/Creator
Winship, Ingrid M.;  Dudding, Tracy E.
Institution
The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Health, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy
Description
As the molecular basis of disease continues to be elucidated, familial cancer syndromes, which consist of a range of neoplastic and non-neoplastic features, are emerging. The usual pathway of referral to a genetics clinic or familial cancer centre is via an oncologist, when high-risk features that suggest a possible hereditary basis for the presenting cancer are recognised. Traditionally, these high-risk features include more than two family members with similar cancers over two or more generations, a young age of onset, and more than one synchronous or metachronous tumour. These features are effective in ascertaining a substantial proportion of families with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer due to a BRCA mutation, or the more common bowel-cancer predisposition syndromes, such as hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer and familial adenomatous polyposis. However, there are a range of familial cancer syndromes that are not easily detected and that can remain undiagnosed when history and examination are not extended to include non-malignant features. The identification of cutaneous signs associated with rare familial-cancer syndromes provides individuals and their families with the opportunity to undertake early surveillance for malignant and non-malignant complications that might in time be shown to improve outcomes.
Relation
Lancet Oncology Vol. 9, Issue 5, p. 462-472
Publisher Link
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1470-2045(08)70126-8
Date
2008
Publisher
Elsevier
Keyword(s)
familial cancer syndromes;  hereditary diseases;  cutaneous signs
Resource Type
journal article
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/41261
Identifier
ISSN:1470-2045
Reviewed
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Subject
"Lancet Oncology"
 
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