A few cancer centers around the country are now using a genetic test to find patients at high risk of developing colon cancer.
It's estimated that one in 20 colon cancer patients inherited the disease from their parents or grandparents. If you have the colon cancer genes, you'll have more than a 70 percent chance of getting the disease in your lifetime, according to Dr. Xaviet Llor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center.
Those at high risk can be monitored more frequently, to catch the cancer and remove it before it becomes fatal.
