[Having a child and PND/PGD access in women with a BRCA1/2 mutation? Different approach whether ill or healthy]

Genetic tests in families with a mutation related to breast and ovarian cancers (BRCA1/2) are now offered to the persons before completion of their reproductive project. The aim of this qualitative study was to descriptively explore how the issues of reproduction are faced in women belonging to these families, and how the possible use of prenatal diagnostic (PND) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) would be faced in a theoretical context. We conducted in-depth interviews, face to face, according to the so-called Grounded Theory approach. Twenty women with a BRCA genetic mutation participated in the study (age range: 31-57 years); 12 have had a breast and/or ovarian cancer. The knowledge of having the mutation did not modify the parental project; however prophylactic anexectomy was likely to alter it in some women. If the majority of women were in favor of PGD (n = 14), medical termination of pregnancy was a constraint towards the position in relation to PND. Besides ethical and moral arguments, the women's attitudes were constructed differently according to their own personal or familial experience of the disease. The women's perceptions of the cancer severity, risk and cure were organized according to this experience.