This cancer is responsible for about 1-5% of bowel cancer.
It is also known as Lynch syndrome.
Patients with HNPCC develop a few polyps and sometimes these turn to cancer.
If you think your family may have HNPCC then you may need to see if you can get a medical history of your family going back a couple of generations. This may help the medical people to make their diagnosis. If you don't have the history, then you may need to keep looking into it to be sure. Always keep a positive outlook and remind yourself that it is treatable.
HNPCC is caused by a mutation (change) of a particular gene. It's what's called a repair gene because it fixes problems which can occur when new cells form in the bowel lining.
Because it's hereditary, the altered gene can be carried through from generation to generation but there's only a 50% chance of children picking up the gene.
This cancer appears to be one that develops as the patient gets older. So, it's important to get checked regularly if you have been diagnosed with HNPCC
For further information, contact the Co-Ordinator of the Familial Cancer Registry at the Contacts Page.
