Lynch Syndrome

Lynch Syndrome is an inherited variation in certain genes which increases a person’s risk of endometrial, ovarian or colorectal cancers. Lynch Syndrome affects approximately one in 350 to one in 400 people.  In the UK 200,000-300,000 people are likely to have the condition, but it is estimated that only 5% of people with Lynch Syndrome have been diagnosed.

In collaboration with local genetics clinics, we have been training colorectal, endometrial and ovarian cancer teams in North Central London hospitals to identify these patients and their immediate relatives who are at an increased risk of developing cancer.

Those diagnosed patients are referred to the North Central London Lynch Surveillance Hub at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) for lifelong care.

The hub offers:

• counselling on how a patient’s risk of cancer can be managed
• symptom awareness
• surveillance, for example through transvaginal ultrasound, two-yearly colonoscopies, and blood tests
• arrangement of surgery, when necessary, to remove pelvic organs to reduce the risk of endometrial and ovarian cancers.