Abbie L. Fields, MD

Drs. Levine and Gemignanihave provided a comprehensivereview of the literatureregarding the management of patientswith hereditary breast/ovarian cancersyndrome. As noted, over 200,000new cases of breast cancer and 25,000new cases of ovarian cancer are estimatedfor 2003.[1] Only a small portionof these cases will be hereditary;however, these are the cases that maybenefit from preventive measures. Thepotential for risk-reducing strategiesin these patients has become a criticalissue over the past several years. Thisreview highlights the salient featuresof identifying “at-risk” patients, aswell as the benefits and limitations ofsurgical prophylaxis.