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Biomedical Frontiers: Fall 1996, Vol.4, No.1 The Cowden's-Breast Cancer Link When Mary Smith (not her real name) was 16 years old, she found a lump in her breast. "My mother was terrifiedshe thought it was cancer," says Smith, now 53. "But in those days, no one talked about cancer. So even though I was scared that I had to have surgery, I didn't know the overwhelming possibilities." Since that surgery, Smith has had a seemingly endless series of cancer scares and actual bouts with cancer: four biopsies for suspicious breast lumps, a lumpectomy followed by a mastectomy, a hysterectomy, partial nephrectomy for what turned out to be a benign mass, and now, in 1996, another mastectomy. CPMC researchers say that Cowden's syndrome
a dermatological disorderis an under-recognized cause of breast cancer. Smith does not have the BRCA1 or BRCA2 breast cancer genes. Instead, she suffers from a little-known disease called Cowden's syndrome (CS; also known as multiple hamartoma syndrome)an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by various skin lesions and a high risk of both breast and thyroid cancer. The medical literature describes CS as a rare disease associated with marked disfigurement. But according to CPMC's Dr. Monica Peacockewho is collecting the genetic pedigrees of people like Mary SmithCS is in fact fairly common, not generally disfiguring, easily missed by many doctors, and an under-recognized cause of many cases of familial breast cancer. | |
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