IF YOU GO• What: “An Ounce of Prevention: BRCA, Genetic Testing and Preventive Measures.”• When: 7 p.m. today.• Where: Chabad Jewish Center, 20 Pisgah Ave.• Admission: Free• Phone: 423-490-1106.• Website: www.myJLI.com.CONTINUING EDUCATION”Life in the Balance” is a new six-week, medical-ethics course about the Jewish perspective on everyday medical dilemmas. Continuing medical and legal education credit is available and, according to Rabbi Shaul Perlstein, can help medical professionals develop a greater sensitivity to the concerns and decisions facing some of their Jewish patients. Cost is $99.
A Chattanooga rabbi says Jewish women have what borders on an obligation to check out their risk for carrying a gene mutation that causes breast and ovarian cancer.
“The mandating reason,” according to Rabbi Shaul Perlstein of the Chabad Jewish Center, “is because, from a Jewish perspective, you’re obligated to take care of your body because you have a mission or purpose in life.”
While one in 400 women in the general population carry a BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene mutation, according to the National Cancer Institute, one in 40 women of Ashkenazi, or European, Jewish descent carry it. If a woman carries the mutation, there is a 50 to 80 percent risk she will develop breast cancer starting as early as her 20s, and a 20 to 40 percent risk she will develop ovarian cancer as early as her 30s.
Although the risk for ovarian cancer is lower, its death rate is higher since blood tests and ultrasound exams rarely diagnose the cancer until it has already reached stage three or four. At that point, it is more difficult to treat.