HNPCC Info

Reducing the Risk of Colon Cancer Here are some of the preventive steps you and your doctor can take if your genetic test indicates a risk of developing an inherited cancer: Increased Surveillance Colonoscopy every one to two years beginning at age 20-25 or 5-10 years before the earliest age of a diagnosed colorectal cancer in your family, whichever comes first. Colonoscopy annually after age 40. Preventive Surgery If colon cancer (or an advanced precancerous polyp) is diagnosed in a patient with HNPCC , a full, rather than partial, colectomy is recommended. In carefully selected people, for example, those not willing or able to undergo periodic screening, preventive colectomy may be an option based on a positive genetic test result for HNPCC. Preventive Drug Therapies for Colorectal Cancer: Different drugs for the prevention of colorectal cancer are currently being researched for individuals with HNPCC. None of these drugs are currently approved by the FDA for this purpose. Increa...

Lynch Syndrome: HNPCC There are many reasons to wonder about your risk of colorectal or endometrial cancer - your environment, your diet, your family history. As many as 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer and over 40,000 cases of endometrial cancer are diagnosed each year. While the majority of colorectal and endometrial cancers are sporadic , or not caused by inherited risk factors, research has shown that up to ten percent of these cases are due to inherited cancer syndromes. One of these inherited syndromes is known as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer ( HNPCC ). Individuals with HNPCC have up to an 80 percent risk of colorectal cancer and up to a 71 percent risk of endometrial cancer by age 70. This is a large risk compared to the general population's risk, which is just two percent for colorectal cancer and 1.5 percent for endometrial cancer. Additionally, people with HNPCC may have more than one type of cancer. These cancers may be diagnosed at the same or at diff...

HNPCC Info: Genetic Discrimination and health care: http://thomas.loc.gov

What's the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA)? The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, also referred to as GINA, is a new federal law that protects Americans from being treated unfairly because of differences in their DNA that may affect their health. The new law prevents discrimination from health insurers and employers. The President signed the act into federal law on May 21, 2008. The parts of the law relating to health insurers will take effect by May 2009, and those relating to employers will take effect by November 2009. What's genetic discrimination? Genetic discrimination occurs if people are treated unfairly because of differences in their DNA that increase their chances of getting a certain disease. For example, a health insurer might refuse to give coverage to a woman who has a DNA difference that raises her odds of getting breast cancer. Employers also could use DNA information to decide whether to hire or fire workers.

To him who devotes his life to science, nothing can give more happiness than increasing the number of discoveries, but his cup of joy is full when the results of his studies immediately find practical applications. — Louis Pasteur

Even if you have the information, you are a nurse and you want to advocate for better assessment and or screening, you can't get it done. The knowledge might be there but not the values to improve the health care. Even when one is in a position to have some influence. First of all - congrads on the article! I'm not sure exactly where you should start. Were you interested in initially working with a subset of women (e.g. maternity)? If that were the case I'd start perhaps with blank and blank (or whoever is OB chief). If you were thinking of a broader population, perhaps blank would be a good place to start. Just to muddy the waters a little - I totally understand what your mission is and it sounds like a great way of potentially saving lives. On the other hand, keep in mind that everyone is supersensitive to the amount of documentation nsg is required to do and the amount of data collection/assessments that continues to fall on the staff nurse. (I just had this conversation...

I got a call last night from Dr. Aran. He read the article that I did on HNPCC. We discussed how even if you are diagnosed there is no benefit to extra screening or precautions. It didn't help mom or effect the way she was treated. The title of the manuscript is HNPCC: Change the name to protect the innocent.