Understanding your variant BRCA1/2 result:
- What does this mean?
- Variant results can be frustrating for patients, their families, and their health care professionals. This is because the lab is not certain of the significance of your test result. The lab has found a variation in your genetic code, but they do not know if it is meaningless or is the cause of the cancer in you/your family.
- Sometimes the lab has data to suggest whether the variant is likely to be harmful or not. Your test result may indicate this (for instance, “suspected deleterious” means that the lab thinks the mutation is likely to be harmful, and “favor polymorphism” suggests that the mutation is more likely to be meaningless). It can be difficult to make medical decisions utilizing your test results. You will want to talk to a health care professional about your specific variant and whether the laboratory is uncertain of its significance or whether it is more or less likely to be harmless.
Text for this site is provided by Luba Djurdjinovic, MS, Erin E. Houghton, MS, CGC, Lindsey A. Morse, MS, CGC, and Alissa M. Bovee, ScM, CGC