close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
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
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staffBeyond complications for your health, a genetic disorder such as Lynch syndrome may be cause for other concerns. Your genetic counselor is trained to help you navigate all the areas of your life that are affected by your diagnosis, such as:
- Your privacy. The results of your genetic test will be listed in your medical record, which may be accessed by insurance companies and employers. You may worry that being diagnosed with Lynch syndrome will make it difficult to change jobs or health insurance providers in the future. Federal laws protect Americans from discrimination. A genetic counselor can explain legal protections.
- Your extended family. A Lynch syndrome diagnosis has implications for your entire family. You may worry about the best way to tell family members that you're undergoing genetic testing. A genetic counselor can guide you through this process.
- Your children. If you have Lynch syndrome, your children have a risk of inheriting your genetic mutations. If one parent carries a genetic mutation for Lynch syndrome, each child has a 50 percent chance of inheriting that mutation.
References
- Genetics of colorectal cancer (PDQ): Health professional version. National Cancer Institute. http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/genetics/colorectal/healthprofessional. Accessed Dec. 16, 2009.
- Lindor NM, et al. Concise handbook of familial cancer susceptibility syndromes. Journal of the National Cancer Institute Monographs. 2008;38:1.
- Lynch HT, et al. Review of the Lynch syndrome: History, molecular genetics, screening, differential diagnosis and medicolegal ramifications. Clinical Genetics. 2009;76:1.
- Lindor NM, et al. Recommendations for the care of individuals with an inherited predisposition to Lynch syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296:1507.
- Offit K, et al. Genetic factors: Hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes. In: Abeloff MD, et al. Abeloff's Clinical Oncology. 4th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:180.
- Koornstra JK, et al. Management of extracolonic tumours in patients with Lynch syndrome. Lancet Oncology. 2009;10:400.
- Making sense of your genes: A guide to genetic counseling. National Society of Genetic Counselors. http://www.nsgc.org/client_files/GuidetoGeneticCounseling.pdf. Accessed Dec. 16, 2009.
- Lindor NM (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 19, 2009.
Find Mayo Clinic on