According to its own statements, the cancer information service offers up-to-date knowledge about cancer, but also help and individual advice for each individual. There are many questions from people with cancer and their relatives, but not always when questions about the cause are asked, they can be answered clearly. For in most cases the cause is unclear, why someone has cancer, as in the case of a former breast cancer patient who was diagnosed in 2016 but could be successfully treated. The woman was 45 at the time, but today she is worried and worried that her daughters could also fall ill, because one aunt also had breast cancer and her great-grandmother died of intestinal cancer. Whether the daughters also have an increased risk of getting cancer is not so easy to say. However, it is true that out of 100 cancers, only five to ten are hereditary, i.e. passed on with the genetic material, because not every cancer is hereditary. Also, as a rule only cancer-promoting changes in the genetic material are passed on to the offspring, which further increases the complexity of the subject area. Experts also explain that not everyone who has such a change in the genetic material is necessarily diagnosed with cancer. Furthermore, other damage to the genetic material must be added to the fact that a malignant tumour can develop at all. In the case of breast cancer in women, however, there may be a risk factor with regard to hereditary predisposition which could only be clarified by a genetic test and subsequent specialist consultation. If there is a justified suspicion, the statutory health insurance pays the costs for the genetic test and the special consultation in a counselling centre. However, one should know in advance that the predisposition can only be passed on if there are several close relatives with the same tumour disease and if one was comparatively young at the time of the disease. Coincidences can also come together unhappily here without a hereditary predisposition being present. If a genetic test appears to be useful, the family doctor should be consulted, who will refer the patient to a doctor in a justified case. During the consultations, experts clarify many questions related to genetic tests and explain, for example, what hereditary cancer is and how such a genetic test works in the first place. Then those affected are asked how high they estimate their risk and that of their family members. The evaluation of results is discussed, as are measures for early detection and prevention of cancer, if such measures exist at all.
