Reproductive tract screening for females and males with PJS

This will be relatively short and sweet after my long posts on pancreatic cancer and breast cancer screening in people with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS).

Both males and females with PJS are at increased risk of cancer in a wide range of organs. Additionally, we're at risk of both benign and malignant tumors of the reproductive tract.

Breast cancer screening in PJS

I recently shared very diverse pancreatic cancer screening guidelines for people with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) at this blog.

Now, breast cancer screening gets a spotlight. Though the guidelines don't vary as much region-by-region, there is a startling difference between those of St. Mark's in London and other medical experts. And, again, screening guidelines for Americans are much more aggressive, beginning at a younger age, using more technology and done at more frequent intervals.

Note: All breast cancer screening guidelines are for women with PJS, though men with PJS have been diagnosed with breast cancer and many have had swollen breast tissue (gynecomastia) as boys and/or men.

Pancreatic cancer screening in PJS

Dear PJS people, 

Tell me your pancreatic cancer screening routine (or lack of) and I’ll tell you where you live…and maybe even guess your correct age.

This sounds humorous, but it should be a very serious topic for all of us. Pancreatic cancer risk in people with PJS is astronomical – our risk is possibly over 100 times that of the general population.

While pancreatic cancer is rare in the general population and generally affects older people, in PJS it is fairly common and often affects younger folks and even those who don’t have complicating risk factors like smoking.

Different research groups study different populations of PJS people to arrive at the high-risk estimate – the geographical and historical differences are startling.

More startling to me, a person living with PJS who’s read the medical literature for decades, is how all over the map the cancer screening guidelines for pancreatic cancer are.