Although doctors and scientists have not yet decided whether cancer is hereditary, it cannot be denied that some families have multiple cancer patients one after another; some parents have just been diagnosed with cancer and doctors urge their children to undergo related tests; some mothers and daughters die of the same type of cancer.
There is a family gathering phenomenon of cancer
On March 11, Anita Mui’s second brother, Edmund Mui, died of cancer. In 2013, Chen Zhaodi, a 58-year-old female volleyball player, died of terminal liver cancer metastasized from rectal cancer, while Chen’s parents, two sisters and brother all died of similar diseases.
Napoleon’s family, his father, grandfather, 3 sisters and 4 brothers, and Napoleon himself all died of stomach cancer. A doctor in France reported that 15 of the 24 women in his family died of cancer, 10 of them from breast cancer; four of the five children in the second generation of the family died of cancer. In fact, cancer does run in families. If one of your relatives has cancer, you should pay attention to it!
1.Liver cancer parents have liver cancer, children need primary prevention
If parents are found to have liver cancer, children are the target of primary prevention because the vertical transmission of hepatitis B virus can easily cause the tendency of family gathering of liver cancer, not to mention that 85%-90% of liver cancer patients in China are from hepatitis B. Especially, mothers with hepatitis B virus can be the target of primary prevention. Especially, mothers with hepatitis B virus have a higher chance of liver cancer in their offspring.
Therefore, children with hepatocellular carcinoma patients should have a comprehensive liver examination, such as liver function tests and ultrasound, regardless of their health conditions. If they are also found to be suffering from hepatitis B, they should actively cooperate with doctors to carry out antiviral treatment and liver preservation treatment; if they are not suffering from hepatitis B, they should pay more attention to their daily diet and living habits to prevent them from developing into cancer.
The children of liver cancer patients should control their mouths well: do not eat moldy food such as stinky tofu, fermented sauerkraut and tofu milk; do not eat sprouted food, such as bean sprouts and sprouted potatoes; do not eat fried food and quit drinking; do not take drugs or health care products indiscriminately.
Another study shows that liver cancer patients are deficient in the trace element selenium, so lack of selenium is also one of the factors triggering liver cancer. Children of liver cancer patients can take appropriate selenium supplements, usually 1 tablet of 50 mg and 100 mg a day, but do not take health supplements containing selenium at will.
Reminder.
Children of liver cancer patients should go to the hospital in time to investigate liver cancer if they suddenly develop symptoms such as unexplained weight loss, pain in the liver area (i.e. under the right side of the rib cage), darkness around the eyes and weakness, especially when there is a sudden increase of black moles on the body, the possibility of liver cancer is not excluded, so we should pay attention to observe.
2.Breast cancer mother gets cancer before menopause, her daughter is at risk
If you have a breast cancer patient, your children and relatives should also check your “breast” because breast cancer has an obvious genetic tendency, especially the possibility of inheritance among direct relatives. Generally speaking, if a mother has breast cancer, her daughter is 2 to 3 times more likely to get breast cancer than other women. Breast cancer patients with a genetic predisposition who are implicated by their mothers have a younger age of onset (about 10 years earlier), a higher degree of malignancy, and may have cancer in both breasts.
To determine if you are genetically predisposed to breast cancer, there is a way to tell: if your mother or sister had breast cancer on both sides before menopause, then you have a higher chance of getting breast cancer. If your mother was older when she had breast cancer and she is the only one in your family who has had breast cancer, there is no need to worry too much.
Reminder.
To prevent breast cancer, normal women should have regular breast health checkups, such as mammogram and ultrasound, every 1-2 years starting from the age of 35-40, but women with family history need to advance to about 30 years old, usually with ultrasound before the age of 35; and mammogram after the age of 35, so as to detect breast cancer at an early stage.
Women with genetic predisposition should consciously perform “breast self-examination” from the age of 20, especially after menstruation, and if they find lumps in their breasts that are hard, immobile and not painful to touch, they should go to the hospital early.
In addition to medical checkups, women with a family history of breast cancer should pay extra attention to keep their “slim body”, especially not to get fat suddenly after menopause. This is because there is an aromatase biocatalyst in human fat cells that can convert hormone precursors into estrogen, and long-term stimulation of estrogen will accelerate the rate of cancer, which in turn will trigger breast cancer.
In addition, women with family history should have children early (before 30 years old) and breastfeeding, and don’t use estrogen-containing drugs indiscriminately during menopause to minimize breast cancer triggering factors and reduce its incidence.
3.Diffuse gastric cancer is often “hereditary”
Few people notice the genetic quality of gastric cancer, but some of them have genetic tendency. It is generally believed that if there are at least two people in a family with the disease in one or two generations, and one person is younger than 50 years old, and all patients are of diffuse type, then hereditary gastric cancer can be considered. If you are born in such a family, you should be careful.
The early lesions of hereditary diffuse gastric cancer are more insidious, so regular gastroscopy should be performed to detect the cancer as early as possible, and even preventive gastrectomy can be performed. Of course, this heredity is not a direct tumor inheritance, but an individual’s tendency to develop cancer.
Reminder.
Children of such patients should still avoid exposure to fermented, smoked and barbecued foods, and can consume more fresh fruits and vegetables as they contain a lot of vitamin C and vitamin E, which can stop the formation of carcinogens.
Helicobacter pylori infection also increases the risk of gastric cancer. Maintaining dietary hygiene can reduce H. pylori infection in the stomach and reduce the risk of precancerous lesions and gastric cancer by 40%. At the same time, it is also necessary to quit smoking and alcohol because smoke contains many carcinogens and drinking alcohol can damage the gastric mucosa and promote the absorption of carcinogens to accelerate cancer.
If there are hereditary diffuse gastric cancer patients in the family, their relatives who often experience postprandial fullness, nausea, vomiting, etc. should go to hospital as early as possible for clear diagnosis to prevent cancer.
4.Cancerous intestinal polyp is a hidden disease, which is transmitted to men but not women
Under normal circumstances, intestinal polyps are not harmful to human body. But familial polyposis, that is, multiple adenomatous polyps growing in the colon has a high propensity for malignant transformation, which can easily lead to colon, rectal and duodenal tumors.
Familial polyposis has obvious family aggregation, so in order to avoid “inherited” bowel cancer, it is important to check if there are any relatives in the family who have colon polyposis, another characteristic of the disease is that it is transmitted to men but not women.
If a parent is diagnosed with familial polyposis at the age of 40, they should have had diarrhea, abdominal pain, anemia, weight loss and intestinal obstruction 10 years ago. Therefore, offspring of such patients should undergo colonoscopy 10 years earlier and keep doing it every year. It is important to note that the disease is inherited intergenerationally, which means that if the parents do not have the disease, it does not mean that the child does not have it.
Generally, polyps are burned off with electrodes after they are found, and no polyps will grow back in the burned area, and no cancer will occur. If no polyps are found, it is also important to note that you can drink some light salt water in the morning on an empty stomach, which helps to cleanse the intestines.
Reminder.
If someone in the family has colon polyps, their offspring or relatives should pay attention to whether there are abnormal symptoms such as irregular diarrhea, pus and blood in the stool, weight loss, black spots on the soles of the feet and lips, etc. If there is discomfort, go to the hospital as early as possible, do not take antidiarrheal drugs and other antibacterial agents at will, so as not to worsen the condition and induce cancer.