Clinical Ecogenetics

Abstract
The report of colon cancer in a family in Utah in this week's issue of the Journal 1 brings up the question, What is a "cancer family"? Since one in four Americans has cancer in a lifetime, most readers will have some relatives with cancer, and some, by chance, will have many. In two surveys with imperfect sampling techniques, 6 per cent and 1.5 per cent of persons without cancer said that they had three or more relatives with the disease.2 , 3 Among 200 consecutive patients in an adult oncology clinic, 50 per cent reported having at least one first-degree relative with . . .