Breast cancer and bowel cancer are the most common hereditary cancers seen here in the UK. In the general population about 1 in 10 women get breast cancer and 1 in 20 individuals get bowel cancer.
In families where this is hereditary the risk of getting a particular cancer can be as high as 8 out of 10. There are lots of genetic conditions that make it more likely to get cancer. Each condition is uncommon and caused by faults in different genes. Each faulty gene will only cause certain types of cancer.
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