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Cancer

Inheritance patterns and prenatal diagnosis

Inheritance patterns
Genetic changes within a cell in the body may develop which allow uncontrolled multiplication of that cell and leads to the development of a cancer or leukaemia. The majority of cancers and leukaemias have no inherited component in their cause but some forms of cancer and leukaemia are associated with inherited conditions.

Prenatal diagnosis
None.

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Medical text written November 1991 by Contact a Family. Approved November 1991 by Professor M Patton, Professor of Medical Genetics, St Georges Hospital Medical School, London UK and Dr J E Wraith, Consultant Paediatrician, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital. Last updated September 2004 by Contact a Family and Dr D Hargrave. Approved September 2004 by Dr D Hargrave, Consultant Paediatric Oncologist, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, UK.

 

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