Cancer is caused by gene alterations within body cells. Mostly, these alterations have happened by chance within cells that turn into cancer. These are called ‘acquired’ or ‘somatic’ gene alterations.
Somatic gene alterations are new gene alterations that happen by chance at some point during a person’s lifetime.
They are not inherited gene alterations. Separate testing on a blood sample is needed to look for possible inherited gene alterations that increase the risk of cancer.
The patient information booklet on this page is about genetic testing for inherited causes of cancer.