In Control: Making the Most of the Genetic Test for Breast Cancer

Rebecca Murdock is a lawyer with the Toronto firm Ryder Wright Blair &
Doyle.

In 1990, a research team led by Dr. Marie-Claire King, a geneticist at
the University of California at Berkley, isolated chromosome 17 as one
site of hereditary breast cancer. Four years later, researchers
collaborating internationally found the two genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) that
predispose five percent of women to the disease.

In Control offers timely and thoughtful information to women facing the
choice of predictive testing—a procedure that has benefits, risks, and
limitations. The author advises that “if two or more members of your
family have had breast, ovarian, colon, or prostate cancer, and if any
of these were diagnosed before the age of 50, you should have your
doctor refer you to a cancer genetics clinic.”

The book begins with a patient’s first trip to the doctor, includes a
brief history of genetics, follows with chapters on “understanding
risk information” and “dealing with test results,” and ends with
cancer prevention and treatment options. The text is presented in an
easy-to-read format.

What is most impressive about this first-rate book is the author’s
ability to weave medical information into a narrative that will help
readers deal with the emotional stress that comes with predictive
testing. While emphasizing the rapidly evolving nature of DNA research,
Sharpe counsels the reader into an informed and confident position of
control.