The authors of the new JAMA study believe that genetic testing should be covered for women who seem to fall victim to breast cancer that seems to have struck them from nowhere.
The study results indicate that the deadly gene for breast cancer can actually be passed down silently from the father. Current insurance probability models of coverage are based on the history of the mother.
Thousands of young women, under the age of 50 years, could and should be offered testing to identify this faulty gene for their future medical care, according to the study results.
This proposed testing could provide future, preventable cancer in these women.
According to Dr. Jeffry Weitzel from the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, who co-authored the new JAMA study, half of breast cancer victims have inherited the faulty gene from their father, not their mother. These individuals may not be identified, unless the father has had female relatives with breast cancer.
"The study allows physicians and patients to make an argument to insurance carriers that, although there's not a family history of breast cancer, it's still reasonable to test and it should be a covered benefit," writes Dr. Noah Kauff, cancer geneticist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York in his editorial to the authors' article.
Genetic testing can help a women make knowledgeable medical decisions for her future cancer risks.
A woman with breast cancer who has been identified with the faulty gene has a four times greater risk of developing cancer in the other breast in the future. These women also have a 10 times greater risk of developing ovarian cancer as well.
