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Wylie Burke, MD, PhD
University of Washington Seattle

Mary Daly, MD, PhD
Fox Chase Cancer Center Philadelphia, Pa

Judy Garber, MD, MPH
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Boston, Mass

Jeffrey Botkin, MD, MPH
University of Utah Salt Lake City Mary Jo Ellis Kahn National Breast Cancer Coalition Richmond, Va

Patrick Lynch, MD,JD
University of Texas Houston

Anne McTiernan, MD, PhD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center Seattle, Wash

Kenneth Offit, MD, MPH
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research New York, NY

Jeffrey A. Perlman, MD
Claudette Varricchio, DSN, RN National Cancer Institute Bethesda, Md

Gloria Petersen, PhD
The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Md

Elizabeth Thomson, MS, RN
National Human Genome Research Institute Bethesda, Md

JAMA. 1997;278(4):290.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—We agree with Ms Gilson and Drs Vaidya and

Baum that there is a potential risk from mammography for women carrying BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations, but we believe there is a greater likelihood of benefit. Vaidya and Baum note recent publications indicating a DNA repair function for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 protein^1-3 and suggest that these observations raise questions about the use of screening mammography for individuals carrying mutations in these genes. While a defect in a DNA repair mechanism may increase the risk of radiation exposure, we believe it would be premature to conclude that individuals carrying BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations will be "exquisitely sensitive to even small amounts of ionizing radiation." This research finding is preliminary and of uncertain clinical significance. It may mean that cancers associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are more sensitive to radiation. Further, while mammography may pose risk, it also remains the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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