WHAT IF TESTING DOES NOT DETECT AN ALTERED BRCA1 OR BRCA2 GENE?
• Negative results (meaning a mutation is not found) can mean several things. First, it might mean that there is still a BRCA mutation which cannot be located by current testing methods. This is a limitation of many genetic tests. It could also mean that a different gene is responsible for the cancers in the family. For this reason, families who test negative for one of the genes may be interested in pursuing testing for other breast cancer genes in the future. It is also possible that the cancers in the family are not hereditary. Since breast cancer is a common disease, by chance alone, more than one woman in a given family may have breast cancer.