WOMEN do not have a higher risk of getting breast cancer just because someone in the family has cancer genes according to new research.
The findings may bring comfort to high-risk families after a study suggested that having a relative with a cancerous mutation raised their risk of cancer.
The average woman has about a 12 to 13pc chance of developing breast cancer. caused by gene abnormality.
Women with these mutations have a five to 20 times higher risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. Many of these women elect to have their breasts or ovaries removed.
But a 2007 study suggested that even though women did not carry the family breast cancer mutation, they still had a two to five times higher risk of developing breast cancer.
There was no evidence of an increased breast cancer risk among women who were non-carriers.
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