ASCO/SSO Review of Current Role of Risk-Reducing
Surgery in Common Hereditary Cancer Syndromes
José G. Guillem, William C. Wood, Jeffrey F. Moley, Andrew Berchuck, Beth Y. Karlan, David G. Mutch,
Robert F. Gagel, Jeffrey Weitzel, Monica Morrow, Barbara L. Weber, Francis Giardiello,
Miguel A. Rodriguez-Bigas, James Church, Stephen Gruber, and Kenneth Offit
A B S T R A C T
Although the etiology of solid cancers is multifactorial, with environmental and genetic factors
playing a variable role, a significant portion of the burden of cancer is accounted for by a heritable
component. Increasingly, the heritable component of cancer predispositions has been linked to
mutations in specific genes, and clinical interventions have been formulated for mutation carriers
within affected families. The primary interventions for mutations carriers for highly penetrant
syndromes such as multiple endocrine neoplasias, familial adenomatous polyposis, hereditary
nonpolyposis colon cancer, and hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndromes are primarily
surgical. For that reason, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the Society of
Surgical Oncology (SSO) have undertaken an educational effort within the oncology community. A
joint ASCO/SSO Task Force was charged with presenting an educational symposium on the
surgical management of hereditary cancer syndromes at the annual ASCO and SSO meetings,
resulting in an educational position article on this topic. Both the content of the symposium and the
article were developed as a consensus statement by the Task Force, with the intent of
summarizing the current standard of care. This article is divided into four sections addressing
breast, colorectal, ovarian and endometrial cancers, and multiple endocrine neoplasia. For each, a
brief introduction on the genetics and natural history of the disease is provided, followed by a
detailed description of modern surgical approaches, including a description of the clinical and
genetic indications and timing of prophylactic surgery, and the efficacy of prophylactic surgery
when known. Although a number of recent reviews have addressed the role of genetic testing for
cancer susceptibility, including the richly illustrated Cancer Genetics and Cancer Predisposition
Testing curriculum by the ASCO Cancer Genetics Working Group (available through http://
www.asco.org), this article focuses on the issues surrounding the why, how, and when of surgical
prophylaxis for inherited forms of cancer. This is a complex process, which requires a clear
understanding of the natural history of the disease and variance of penetrance, a realistic
appreciation of the potential benefit and risk of a risk-reducing procedure in a potentially otherwise
healthy individual, the long-term sequelae of such surgical intervention, as well as the individual
patient and family’s perception of surgical risk and anticipated benefit.
J Clin Oncol 24:4642-4660. This article has been published jointly by invitation and consent in both
the Journal of Clinical Oncology and the Annals of Surgical Oncology. © 2006 Society of Surgical
Oncology. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system, without written permission by the Society of Surgical Oncology
HEREDITARY BREAST CANCER
In 1865 a French surgeon—Paul Broca— described
his wife’s pedigree of four generations of breast can-
cer.
1
This observation was cited a century later when
Henry Lynch et al
2
described 34 families with two or
more first-degree relatives with breast cancer, in-
cluding a description of hereditary breast and ovar-
ian cancer. In 1990, Hall noted a linkage between
chromosome 17q and early-onset breast cancer.
3
Narod demonstrated a linkage to this same site in
the hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome.
4
The site was soon cloned.
5
In 1994, a second breast
cancer susceptibility gene, BRCA2, was linked to
chromosome 13q.
6
The intervening years have seen an explosion of
information regarding the genetic repressor mecha-
nism by which mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2
genes cause inherited susceptibility to breast cancer.
The Li-Fraumeni syndrome, associated with breast
cancer and soft tissue sarcomas, was first described
as a kindred in 1969
7
; this is caused by a germline
From the Departments of Surgery and
Medicine, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, New York, NY; Depart-
ment of Surgery, Emory University
School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA; Depart-
ment of Surgery, Washington University
School of Medicine, St Louis, MO;
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecol-
ogy, Duke University Medical Center,
Durham, NC; Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology, Cedars-Sinai Medical
Center and David Geffen School of Medi-
cine at the University of California Los
Angeles, Los Angeles, CA; Department
of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washing-
ton University School of Medicine, St
Louis, MO; Department of Surgery, The
University of Texas M.D. Anderson
Cancer Center, Houston, TX; Department
of Clinical Cancer Genetics, City of Hope
National Medical Center, Duarte, CA;
Department of Surgery, Fox Chase Cancer
Center; Departments of Medicine and
Genetics, University of Pennsylvania
School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA;
Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins
University School of Medicine, Baltimore,
MD; Department of Colorectal Surgery,
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland,
OH; and the Department of Medicine, The
University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann
Arbor, MI.
Submitted October 7, 2005; accepted
June 30, 2006.
Authors’ disclosures of potential con-
flicts of interest and author contribu-
tions are found at the end of this
article.
Address reprint requests to José G.
Guillem, MD, MPH, Department of
Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering
Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue,
Room C-1077, New York, NY 10021;
e-mail: guillemj@mskcc.org.
This article has been published jointly
by invitation and consent in both the
Journal of Clinical Oncology and the
Annals of Surgical Oncology. © 2006
Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights
reserved. No part of this document
may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage
and retrieval system, without written
permission by the Society of Surgical
Oncology.
0732-183X/06/2428-4642/$20.00
DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2005.04.5260
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY
R E V I E W A R T I C L E
VOLUME 24 NUMBER 28 OCTOBER 1 2006
4642
www.asco.org on August 17, 2011 - Published by jco.ascopubs.org Downloaded from
by the Society of Surgical Oncology. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.