- With Mayo Clinic nurse educator
Sheryl M. Ness, R.N.
read biographyclose windowBiography of
Sheryl M. Ness, R.N.
Sheryl M. Ness
Sheryl Ness, R.N., O.C.N., is a nurse educator for the Cancer Education Program at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. She helps inform patients, families and caregivers about services and resources to help them through the cancer journey.
She has a master's degree in nursing from Augsburg College. In addition, she is an assistant professor of oncology at the College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, and is certified as a specialist in oncology nursing. Sheryl has worked for more than 20 years at Mayo Clinic as an educator. She has a keen interest in the importance of the quality of life and concerns of people living with cancer.
Latest entries
- Difficult conversations about cancer can be empowering
June 15, 2013
- Quality of life issues key factor for cancer patients
June 8, 2013
- Anger and cancer — what to do with the difficult emotions
June 1, 2013
- Preventive mastectomy — a personal choice
May 25, 2013
- Share your story about living with cancer
May 18, 2013
Free
E-newsletter
Subscribe to Housecall
Our weekly general interest
e-newsletter keeps you up to date
on a wide variety of health topics.
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Living with cancer blog
-
Aug. 10, 2012
BRCA testing can help you understand your cancer risk
By Sheryl M. Ness, R.N.
Testing for BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes can identify people who have a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. If a positive DNA mutation is discovered in one person, other family members can be tested to determine if they also carry a BRCA mutation.
Once you learn if you carry an inherited BRCA gene mutation, you can understand better your personal risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. You can talk with a genetic counselor and your health care provider about measures you can take to reduce your cancer risk.
To reduce your cancer risk, you may choose to:
- Increase the frequency of screening tests to detect early cancer
- Take preventive medications that have been proven effective in lowering breast cancer risks (chemoprevention)
- Undergo preventive surgery (removal of breast tissue, ovarian and fallopian tubes)
However, not everyone who has their DNA tested for BRCA mutations gets clear results. There are times when the genetic tests show variants of uncertain significance (VUS) that have undefined risks of cancer. Individuals found to have these VUS cannot benefit from individualized cancer risk assessment that comes from a positive test result. In addition, a VUS cannot be used to determine risks of cancer among relatives of the tested individual.
Recently, scientists from around the world collaborated on developing a new model to help understand the clinical meaning of some of the known VUS in the BRCA genes. The model mathematically combines multiple lines of evidence to produce a number (or score), called the posterior probability. This probability score reflects the result from calculations that measure the chance that a VUS is or is not likely to be a real BRCA mutation or a harmless difference.
This new model is helping people who have VUS better understand their personal risk. However, more research is needed to understand all the variants as they are discovered. The field of genetics is evolving every day, so look for updates to this from Mayo Clinic.
For more on VUS and probability scores, check out mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/womens_cancer/projects.cfm.
I'd love to hear from those of you who have experienced BRCA testing. Share your thoughts with others through the blog.
Follow me on Twitter at @SherylNess1. Join the discussion at #livingwithcancer.
11 comments posted
Share on:
11 comments posted