Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative

• Risk Due to Family History
• Free Family History Risk Assessment
• Inherited Cancer Risk
• About the Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative
  

Risk Due to Family History

Know your family history. Family history affects risk. Risk affects screening.

STEP 1: Collect your family history information. Make a list.

• Who in your family has had pre-cancerous polyps (benign adenomas) or cancer?
  • What is their relationship to you? (parent, aunt, grandparent, etc)
  • Which side of the family? (mother’s side or father’s side)
• What type of cancer did they have? (where in the body did the cancer start)
• How old were they when they got the cancer? (age at diagnosis)
  

STEP 2: Ask for a family history risk assessment.

• Talk to your doctor about how your family history affects your cancer risk.
• For a free family history risk assessment, call the Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative at 651-312-1557 or 888-94 COLON (888-942-6566).

Who benefits from a family history risk assessment?
You and your family may benefit. A family risk assessment will help you determine whether anyone in your family needs to begin colorectal screening before age 50.

Screening is different when there is a family history of colorectal polyps or cancer. Following the correct screening recommendations prevents cancer and save lives.

People with a family history of colorectal polyps or cancer may need to:

• Begin at age 40 or earlier
• Use colonoscopy
• Repeat every 5 years or less
  

Back to Top

Inherited Cancer Risk

Risk due to family history depends on the pattern of cancers that have occurred in the family and can range from a lifetime risk of 10% to a lifetime risk of over 80%. Signs of inherited cancer risk include:

1. Family history. Often several people in the family have had colorectal polyps, colorectal cancer, or other types of cancer.
2. Early age at diagnosis. Cancers that occur at an earlier than average age are more likely to be due to inherited cancer risk.
3. Multiple primaries. When someone has had cancer more than once, either the same kind of cancer or different kinds of cancer, or when someone has had multiple colorectal polyps, there may be an inherited risk.

A family history risk assessment can help determine how these signs of hereditary risk affect your recommendations, and whether a genetic evaluation may help you better protect your health.

For a FREE FAMILY RISK ASSESSMENT or for more information on heredity and colorectal cancer contact the Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative (MCCI) at 651-312-1557 or 1-888- 94COLON

MCCI has information on hereditary cancer syndromes, including Familial Polyposis (FAP) and Hereditary Non-polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC).

Back to Top

Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative (MCCI)

MCCI can help answer questions like these:

"My mother had colorectal cancer . . . what are my chances of developing it?"

"My brother had polyps, but I'm not 50 yet. Do I really need to think about colorectal cancer screening now?"

“There is a lot of cancer in my family. What can I do to protect our health?”

"I had colorectal cancer. What does this mean for my children? When should they begin screening?"

"Are there ways that my family and I can lower our risk of developing colorectal cancer?"

“I heard about genetic testing for colon cancer. Would that be useful for me?”

MCCI is a non-profit, community and professional resource that provides information about colorectal cancer, offers free family history risk assessment and individual screening recommendations, facilitates research, and maintains a family registry. Contact MCCI for information about risk due to family history, inherited cancer predisposition, and hereditary cancer syndromes such as FAP and HNPCC.

Minnesota Colorectal Cancer Initiative
393 N. Dunlap, #515
St. Paul, MN 55104

651-312-1557
888-94 COLON (toll-free outside the metro area)