Gastrointestinal Cancer Risk and Prevention
Our Services
If you think that you have a high risk of developing a gastrointestinal cancer, the Friends of Dana-Farber Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic can help you create a personalized program to lower your risk.
It begins with a cancer risk evaluation, where you will meet with a genetic counselor and a doctor who specializes in cancers that can be inherited. They will talk with you about your family's history of cancer and what this means. Other health care professionals such as surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, and social workers are also available to talk with you and your family.
One goal of this evaluation is to help you learn what steps you can take to lower your risk of developing a gastrointestinal cancer.
What you can do
If you are at risk for developing a gastrointestinal cancer, there are several ways for you to take control, including:
Cancer screening
Any plan for lowering cancer risk must include cancer screening, which can help find cancer early or even prevent it entirely. The staff at the Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic can help you determine which types of cancer screenings are best for you, and how often you should have them.
Genetic testing
Genetic testing is available and can be an important part of finding gene changes that could dramatically increase a person's risk of cancer. Knowing whether or not you carry a problem gene may influence how and when you and your family should have cancer screenings.
Clinical research
The Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic offers people the opportunity to take part in clinical trials. These are studies that examine the best ways to prevent inherited gastrointestinal cancers and how to find these cancers early on, when treatment is most effective.
