COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Saturday is Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day. A relatively common condition, that not many people might know about. A G.I. prevention doctor told 11 News that Lynch Syndrome is underdiagnosed, and doesn’t get the attention it truly needs. Most people don’t know they have this inherited genetic condition until they get cancer.
“Individuals inherit a copy of that mismatch repair gene that doesn’t work,” Dr. Swati Patel, an Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Colorado, explains. “You can see how inheriting this can increase or predispose patients to cells growing abnormally because mistakes don’t get fixed. Those cells can then kind of turn into pre-cancerous things that can over time turn into cancer.”
One in 279 individuals are diagnosed with Lynch Syndrome. There are no symptoms to alert you of something wrong. It all goes back to one’s family history. If your parent has Lynch Syndrome, there’s a 50% chance you have of getting it. That’s why it’s important to look for red flags within your family’s history, to see if you should get tested for a diagnosis…