Multiple primary cancers and prolonged survival: familial colonic and endometrial cancers.

We describe features of multiple cancers in a small kindred wherein a cluster of tumors affecting various anatomic sites has been observed among eight directline relatives. Three of these individuals have had two or more primary malignancies, and one woman showed a remarkable tolerance to invasive cancer, having had four histologically verified neoplasms (cancers of the ovary, endometrium, and colon, and myelogenous leukemia). The constellation of tumors occurring at an early age among relatives of the kindred supports a genetic etiology.