Doctors are to contact all the Island's surviving breast and ovarian cancer victims as they zero in on a deadly gene which threatens relatives.

They say family members could have the same gene -- which multiplies cancer chances for women in their 20s -- and early warning could save lives.

Carriers of the gene run a 50 to 80 percent risk of developing breast cancer and the risk for getting ovarian cancer was between 20 and 40 percent.

However women without the gene face a general cancer risk of one in 17 worldwide.

Questionnaires, which are voluntary, will go out next week to the 390 surviving breast and ovarian cancer victims on the tumour registry which started in 1980.

Consultant oncologist Dr. Sidney Lowry said: "The chances of you developing breast cancer if you have this gene are very high.'' "Less than ten percent of those who have breast cancer have it. We want to identify these families so we can help them.

"We have known for about five years that there are a certain group of women who carry this gene. We want to identify it.'' Dr. Kevin Hughes, of the Lahey Clinic's Breast Center, is helping with the study of the BRC1 gene.

He said: "A very large percentage of woman who carry this gene will develop one of these mutations.

"We are hoping to reduce that number or if we do find cancer to find it earlier. These genes cause cancer at an earlier age.

"A lot of breast cancer occurs after the age of 50 or 60 but in this group it can occur in people in their 20s.

"So mammography is started earlier or we will consider oral contraceptives which can prevent ovarian cancer or other interventions that can help at these stages.'' Dr. Hughes added: "One out of 120 women are believed to carry the gene.'' "We can then change ways we take care of those patients to prevent breast and ovarian cancer or fight it at a more preventable stage.'' But he said doctors could not put a figure on how many carriers of the gene would survive once preventative measures had been put in place.

Dr. Hughes said: "We are just now beginning to understand what we can do and we don't know how effective our interventions can be.

"If we remove the ovaries before cancer develops we can drop the risk of ovarian cancer somewhere between 50 and 90 percent.'' "So you can have a major impact by very aggressive methods.'' Dr. Lowry said: "The emphasis is on early diagnosis, frequent mammography.

Mammography usually isn't considered under the age of 30. There is a drug which can be used to slow down breast cancer.'' The questionnaire will ask women about the history of cancer within their family, how many relatives had the disease, what type they had and the age of diagnosis.

Dr. Hughes said: "Bermuda is the perfect place to do this type of work. If we can identify all the surviving breast and ovarian cancer patients on the island most likely every family on the island that might have hereditary cancer will have been represented by one of these patients.'' Men can pass the gene along as well as women but were far less likely to develop cancer.