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7 Health Matrix 163 (1997)
BRCA1: To Test or Not to Test, That Is the Question

handle is hein.journals/hmax7 and id is 169 raw text is: ARTICLE BRCA1: TO TEST OR NOT TO TEST, THAT IS THE QUESTION Mendel E. Singer, Ph.D.' Randall D. Cebul, M.D.tt YOU ARE A PHYSICIAN. This morning, you received a call from one of your regular patients who sounded very dis- tressed. Mrs. X, a thirty-five year old Ashkenazi-Jewish wom- an, tells you she wants to be tested for the BRCA1 gene muta- tion that she understands can predict the eventual development of breast cancer. She heard from friends that Ashkenazi-Jewish women are at especially great risk. She also says that she wants testing immediately because she does not want to wait until it is too late. Besides, she wants to put her fears of breast cancer to rest. What do you tell her? How can you help her to make an informed decision about having the test per- formed? Because of the great media attention surrounding recent findings about the prevalence of the BRCA1 gene mutation in the Ashkenazi-Jewish community, different forms of this sce- nario has been repeating itself around the country. In the above vignette, there are numerous questions that must be addressed t B.A., Mathematics Rutgers University; Ph.D., Operations Research Case Western Reserve University; Faculty, School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. Special thanks to Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D. and Elizabeth D. McKinley, M.D., M.P.H. for their advice. Also, special thanks to the Editors of HEALTH MATRIX for enhancing the readability of this Article. it Associate Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Case Western Reserve University. Director of the Center for Health Care Research and Policy at Case Western Reserve University and MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. During 1995-96, served as President of the Society for Medical Decision Making.

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