Cancer is today the most commonly occurring illness in society. It is estimated that at present some 162,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed every year in Spain, and of these approximately 33,000 are diagnosed in Catalonia. The most frequent types of cancer are lung cancer, colorectal cancer, prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women.

Most types of cancer -between 75% and 80% of cases- are sporadic and are normally due to environmental factors. Risk factors are smoking, obesity, a sedentary life (little physical exercise), a high-fat diet, alcohol consumption, exposure to the sun or to carcinogenic substances.

The remaining 20% of cancer cases tend to run in the family and are probably due to mixed causes (genetic and environmental), while a small percentage (5%-10%) may be due to a marked genetic expression passed down from generation to generation.

The Cancer Evaluation and Prevention Unit of the Instituto Oncológico Teknon is an innovative medical programme providing patients with an appraisal and and evaluation of cancer risk in terms of personal and family background, and the possibility of carrying out genetic testing for those patients with an hereditary predisposition to cancer.

Cancer Evaluation and Prevention Unit

Risk of breast cancer

Risk of colon cancer