Cancer in a family

To be diagnosed with cancer is difficult, especially if the disease is already advanced making treatment more difficult.

In a family, where close relatives had colorectal cancer, there might be a question of whether the disease is hereditary, so if it could affect the next generation(s)

If that is your case, it is important to note that the vast majority of colon and rectal cancers are NOT hereditary.

Most colorectal cancers are sporadic (not-hereditary)

Even in a family with 2 or more cases of colorectal cancer, these might just be an unfortunate combination of several sporadic cases in the same family.

Only a minimal number of families have familial cancer, meaning that their members have higher propensity to develop colorectal cancer than the general population.

Among these, an even smaller small number has hereditary familial breast cancer.

Learn more about these types of cancer in the section  - Cancer biology > Sporadic vs. Familial