• Your family members can choose to get tested from the age of 18. Some people choose to wait until they are nearer 25 - the age when screening may start for gene carriers. If they are found to have the altered gene, they can choose to:
  • Have breast cancer screening (a yearly MRI and possibly yearly mammograms) from the age of 25-30 (depending on their family history).
  • Take chemoprevention drugs. These are drugs that are used to reduce the risk of breast cancer in women with a family history.
  • Have risk-reducing surgery – this may include a double mastectomy or ovary and fallopian tubes removal (salpingo-oophorectomy). Surgery does not have to be done straight after test results. Timing is personal and should be discussed with healthcare professionals.
  • Make healthy lifestyle choices such as eating a healthy diet, exercising and not smoking.
• Your family members may choose not to get tested. They may still be able to have the options above. They would need to discuss this with a healthcare professional.

• Close male relatives (over the age of 18) can ask their GP for a referral to their local genetics service. They will be offered genetic testing.
• There is a small chance of men getting breast cancer. Normally men are advised to practice breast awareness (routinely checking breast tissue). They can also reduce their chances of cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as eating a healthy diet, exercising and not smoking.
• Men with an altered BRCA gene have a higher chance of getting prostate cancer. They will be offered regular screening for prostate cancer from the age of 40, via their GP.
• They may be able to enter a research trial which is looking at prostate cancer screening. You can find where to search for research trials using the link at the bottom of the page.

• Children (under the age of 18) are not offered genetic testing for altered BRCA genes. This is because children have a very low chance of getting breast or ovarian cancer.

• If you do not have an altered BRCA gene your family members will not need to have a BRCA test. This may be different if they have cancer on the other side of their family.

If they are worried about their chance of getting cancer, they would need to discuss this with their doctor.

• You may wish to discuss genetic testing with your family before having a test. Some women choose not to discuss the genetic test until after their results.
• If you have a positive result (a result showing you have an altered gene) the genetics clinic can give you a letter to give to your family members.

If you are planning a family and have an altered BRCA gene, you have several options:

• You may choose to try to have your children without any treatments. Each of your children will have a 50% (1 in 2) chance of having the altered BRCA gene.
• You may look into adoption.
• You may choose to use donor eggs.
• You may consider prenatal testing.
• You may be able to have pre-implantation genetic diagnosis – this is a technique used with IVF (in vitro fertilisation) to select embryos which do not have the altered gene. To find out more about this click here.