The Lurie Cancer Center's Cancer Genetics Program offers cancer risk assessment to patients whose family history may put them at increased risk for cancer, and their health care providers. It is important to identify families with a hereditary susceptibility to cancer because in many cases they can take steps to reduce their own risk and the risk of family members, or prevent cancer from occurring in the first place.
Only about 5-10% of cancer is hereditary. You are more likely to have a hereditary cause to the cancer in your family if: