Genetic Counseling and High-Risk Screening
The genetic counseling program provides patients at high-risk breast cancer with screening and counseling services to identify and manage cancer risk. If you are referred to the genetic counseling program, you will meet with a genetic nurse to share your personal and family health history, undergo an initial comprehensive cancer risk assessment and discuss the risks, benefits, and limitations of genetic testing.
If appropriate, you may undergo genetic testing to determine if a hereditary predisposition for a particular type of cancer can be identified. All patients that utilize the genetic counseling program, regardless of whether or not they undergo genetic testing, receive a risk assessment summary as well as screening and prevention recommendations to manage their cancer risk.
Additional genetic counseling services are available through the Cancer Genetics and Prevention Program at Dana-Farber in Boston.