This blog will cover topics of interest that affect our community. Unless otherwise stated, the blog articles will be written by Sue Friedman, Executive Director of FORCE.
by Laura Esserman, MD Breast cancer screening today: A groundbreaking breast cancer screening study is underway in California and you may be eligible to be a part of it. It’s called the Wisdom Study. The aim is to determine if we can make screening better by personalizing each woman’s mammogram schedule, compared to the current … + read more
by Alexandria Groves In October The Society of Gynecologic Oncology (SGO) announced the release of the SGO Genetics Toolkit to provide critical and important information to health professionals, patients and their families, and anyone who wants a deeper understanding of gynecologic cancers and genetics. The Toolkit is the result of a collaboration between experts from … + read more
by Sue Friedman Members of our community who have already had genetic testing often ask for advice on how to speak about it to their relatives. Some common barriers to testing that we hear voiced by people are: concern over the cost of testing access to genetics experts family communication challenges With the holidays coming, … + read more
by Lisa Schlager The results of the 2016 election and the pending change in administration have triggered renewed focus on the future of healthcare. FORCE released an official statement on the election’s impact on the HBOC community and I hope to address additional issues here. The hereditary cancer community has good reason to be concerned. … + read more
by Sue Friedman FORCE’s KNOW MORE campaign helps women diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancers make informed decisions about genetic counseling and testing for inherited gene mutations. We launched a survey, which was completed by over 1,600 women with ovarian cancer. This blog continues our series on the survey results. We received over … + read more
Guest blog by Heather H. Cheng, MD, PhD Researchers have long been aware that prostate cancer carries a substantial familial risk. New data (Robinson, et al Cell 2015) from the Stand Up To Cancer-Prostate Cancer Foundation International Dream Team collaborative group examined the genetic sequence of 150 tumors from men with advanced, hormone-resistant, metastatic prostate … + read more
FORCE’s KNOW MORE campaign helps women diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer make informed decisions about genetic counseling and testing for inherited mutations. To better understand their information needs, we launched a survey for women with ovarian cancer. Over 1,600 women completed our survey. This blog continues our series on survey results. How … + read more
by Lisa Schlager Nearly a million Americans carry an inherited BRCA mutation associated with hereditary breast, ovarian cancer, and related cancers (HBOC) and it is estimated that 2.3 million women in the U.S. are at high risk for breast cancer due to family history. A number of other genetic mutations have also been linked to … + read more
KNOW MORE is a campaign designed by FORCE to help women diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancers make informed decisions about genetic counseling and testing for inherited gene mutations. We kicked off the effort by launching a brief survey to better understand how women with ovarian and related cancers make decisions about genetic … + read more
by Lisa Rezende, PhD People with hereditary cancer face many decisions, such as whether or not to have genetic testing, choosing the best type and frequency of cancer screening, and whether or not to manage cancer risk through surgery. Health care providers look to national guidelines to give their patients advice as they make these … + read more
KNOW MORE is a new campaign designed by FORCE to inform every woman diagnosed with ovarian, fallopian tube, and primary peritoneal cancer about national guidelines on genetic counseling and testing for inherited gene mutations. We kicked off the campaign by launching a brief survey to better understand how women with ovarian cancer make decisions around … + read more
Our helpline offers peer support for people concerned about hereditary cancer. All calls are confidential. Call any time.
FORCE has outreach groups throughout the United States and in Essex, United Kingdom that meet periodically to offer peer support, and share resources.
