Randomized Controlled Trials in Hereditary Cancer Syndromes.

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Abstract

Conducting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in patients with germline mutations in genes that predispose to adult-onset cancer is hampered by the rarity of these mutations, barriers to their identification, and challenges inherent to randomizing high-risk individuals as part of a clinical trial. Most of the clinically relevant RCTs have been conducted in 3 syndromes in only some of the high-risk genes for which clinical testing is currently available. This article reviews the surgical, screening, and chemoprevention RCTs in each of the syndromes in clinically relevant studies conducted in the past 10 years.