A breast cancer expert has outlined his goal ? to track down every high risk female patient in Bermuda.

And he reckons that Bermuda is probably the only place in the world where this could be done.

Dr. Kevin Hughes is leading a pioneering drive to identify Bermudian women carrying a hereditary mutation gene that makes them more likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer at early ages.

The world-renowned specialist claims Bermuda is the ideal place to carry out the life-saving programme.

That?s because of the relative stability of the population here making it easy to track families, and the rare fact that every cancer patient?s details are on one registry, unlike somewhere like the United States.

There, millions of records detailing medical histories are spread across dozens of different states.

Dr. Hughes, speaking at a Rotary lunch a day after the start of Breast Cancer Awareness month, said results of a questionnaire posted to residents revealed about 100 women, who have already had cancer and were on the tumour registry, from 30 possible families on the Island could potentially be high risk.

Officials roughly estimate as many as 300 more women, not on the register, could be high risk and now want as many women as possible to come forward for tests.

The breast cancer specialist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, told Rotarians that family history was a valuable tool when assessing risks, with warning bells sounding if three, four or five members of the same family had suffered cancer before.

The family history questionnaires were sent out after patient details were obtained from the tumour registry, a list identifying the majority of cancer patients in Bermuda.

This list showed there were about 760 patients with breast and ovarian cancer between 1980 and 2000.

Some 400 were still alive when the gene study started five years ago ? and question sheets were sent out to these people.

Dr. Hughes said the Island was now in a great position to combat the scourge of breast cancer.

?Think about the power of this in your Island,? he told the meeting, later adding that such a plan was ?close to impossible anywhere else in the world?.

He added: ?You can identify every cancer patient from the registry.

?That should cover nearly every patient on this Island. You can?t do that in the (United) States.?

Three hundred responses were received, an impressive response rate of more than 70 percent.

This revealed that as many as 30 potential families might be at risk, although medics were keen to stress that risk rates would vary among that group with not everyone high risk.

?Women were very interested to help themselves and their families, but also to help Bermuda in general.?

Details are now being worked out with hospital officials on how those flagged up will be contacted, as part of the Bermuda Cancer Genetic Risk Assessment Programme.

Women identified in the higher risk category can go on to have highly scientific lab testing done to identify if they have the mutation genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Hi-tech screening sessions aimed at locating the hereditary genes started yesterday afternoon for women who contacted Dr. Hughes? team after reading about his initiative in a story printed in July.

Women classed as potentially high risk will receive early preventative care in a bid to stop the disease developing.

Dr. Hughes told Rotarians medical research had shown that five to ten percent of breast cancer cases were hereditary, and stressed that early action against the disease was vital.

And the Boston-based medic said that once the disease had developed, a doctor would often look at the patient?s family history and say they were at risk.

?That?s too late,? he added. ?We are now trying to identify woman with high risks before they develop cancer.?

He said that many hard-working physicians simply did not have the time to check for hereditary diseases, with short check-ups often taken up with blood pressure checks and other tests.

The plan in Bermuda, Rotarians heard, was to work with health officials in identifying high-risk patients, without adding to the workload of family doctors.

Meanwhile, Dr. Hughes touched on the downsides of the initiative, which could see high risk patients discriminated against by insurance companies.

However, he said that this had never occurred but said that he was looking at the possibility of new laws protecting women who have had genetic testing.

?I would not want to be the first insurance company to discriminate ? I think that would be a very bad choice,? he added.

Dr. Hughes? clinics will be held at the Bermuda TB Cancer and Health Association offices in Point Finger Road. Call 238-3620 for more information about the initiative.