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Patients & Visitors

Breast Unit


The family history team - left to right; Alison Smith, Katherine Knight, Diana Dalgliesh, Kate Hope

The Family History Breast Clinic offers screening and advice to women who have a significant family history of breast cancer. Currently we undertake annual mammogram screening on over 700 women.

If you are aware of a family history of breast cancer, it is important to remember that:

  1. most women with breast cancer do not have a family history of the disease
  2. Only about 10% of breast cancers are hereditary, and less than half of those are due to a known gene fault (mutation)
  3. "The great majority of women with a relative with breast cancer are not at substantially increased risk of breast cancer themselves"
    (NICE Guidelines for Familial Breast Cancer, 2006)

Services offered by the Family History Breast Clinic include:

The usual route of referral is through your GP or another doctor such as a breast surgeon or Oncologist. A number of factors are considered when deciding who is at high enough risk to warrant referral.


Next Section: Referral Process