Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome: considering the complexities

HBOC is the most common and well-described hereditary breast cancer syndrome and is often at the center of professional recommendations, accreditation standards, and insurance company coverage policies. A person’s BRCA gene mutation status may alter their decisions about surgical treatment, eligibility for a clinical trial, and their approach to cancer risk reduction and screening. The potential for knowledge gained from undergoing BRCA gene testing is great, but there are limitations and pitfalls of which patients should be aware before providing informed consent, including the possibility of uncertain or uninformative results, potential for psychological distress, and effect on family members. As such, it is important for clinicians across the health care spectrum to be able to appropriately identify patients at risk of having HBOC, understand the effect that this diagnosis has on their patients with and without cancer, and be able to identify resources to support their patients throughout genetic testing process.