Vim & Vigor - Spring 2018 - Community Healthcare - 49

Calculating

RISK

Cancer Genetics Risk program aids in
important decisions about care

CALL

Comprehensive
Cancer Care
For more information
about comprehensive cancer care at the hospitals
of Community Healthcare
System, visit comhs.org/
services/cancer-care. To
find out more about cancer
risk and genetic counseling, call for an appointment,
219-934-8856.

BY ELISE SIMS
Advances in technology, high-tech imaging and
radiation therapy systems are enabling physicians to detect cancer earlier and provide more
precise, more comfortable treatments than ever before. At
the hospitals of Community Healthcare System, members
of the oncology team work together with the High Risk
Clinics, Cancer Genetics staff and the Community Cancer
Research Foundation on treatment plans and follow-up.
Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death
among women, exceeded only by lung cancer. Statistics
indicate that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer in her
lifetime. The stage at which breast cancer is detected influences a woman's chance of survival. If detected early, the
five-year survival rate is 98 percent.
"Genetic testing may help some women learn whether
or not they have an increased likelihood of developing
breast cancer or whether inherited factors have contributed to their own or a family member's cancer," says medical geneticist Janice Zunich, MD, who serves as director
of the Cancer Genetics Risk program.
The Cancer Genetics Risk program works with the
Women's Diagnostic Centers of Community Hospital,
St. Catherine Hospital and St. Mary Medical Center to
provide cancer risk assessments, genetic consultations
and genetic testing.
Whether to have genetic testing is a personal choice
that can be made at the time of a genetic counseling
appointment or at a future date. For many people, cancer
risk assessment can be provided through genetic counseling alone without the use of genetic tests. However, in
some cases testing may help the patient and their physician make important decisions about medical care.

If you answer yes to any of the following questions,
genetic counseling may be useful for you:
3 Have you or a close relative been diagnosed with
cancer before age 50?
3 Do you have more than one blood relative with
the same type of cancer? If yes, is the same type of cancer
found in more than one generation?
3 Has anyone in your family had more than one type
of cancer, not including basal cell or squamous cell
skin cancers?
3 Has anyone in your family had cancer on both sides of
the body: breasts, kidneys or eyes?
3 Are you related to someone known to have an inherited
mutation that can cause cancer? ■

Dr. Zunich counsels Crown Point resident and Women's Diagnostic
Center patient Katie Grogan regarding genetics and breast cancer risk.

S PRIN G 2 01 8

http://www.comhs.org/services/cancer-care http://www.comhs.org/services/cancer-care

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2018 - Community Healthcare