ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lynch syndrome is associated with an increased incidence of colorectal carcinomas and extracolonic neoplasms. Patients fulfilling the "Revised Bethesda criteria" or the Amsterdam Citeria I or II should be screened for DNA mismatch repair deficiency. Mutation carriers and high risk individuals should undergo intensified annual screening, as recommended by the S3 guideline for colorectal carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All families of the Regensburger study group with a verified mutation were included in this study. Data acquisition was conducted by telephone interviews. We determined the number of family members who had been informed about the diagnosis and how many of them participated in the recommended screening program. Additionally, an information letter was sent to family members providing information about the opportunity of a predictive mutation analysis. RESULTS: 90 family members of 12 families with a total of 42 carcinomas and a mean age of tumor diagnosis of 41.3 years were included. At the beginning of the study 97.4 % of the family members were informed about the diagnosis. In the course of the study the number of family members participating in the mutation analysis increased from 29.5 % to 42.3 %. The number of index patients complying with the recommended screening program was over 90 %, in contrast to the number of family members which varied between 30 - 60 %. CONCLUSIONS: Relatives of index patients are not sufficiently informed about the importance of predictive testing and the re-commended surveillance guidelines. An insufficient implementation of Lynch syndrome specific aspects of the S3-guideline can be assumed. For an improved implementation barriers of physicians' adherence must be systemically analyzed. It is essential for these high-risk families to establish and enforce awareness in order to create intensified surveillance.
