genetic testing to learn about your cancer risk is done only if you decide to have it if you are concerned about your family s pattern of disease cancer you ve had in the past or other cancer risk factors you may want to talk to your doctor about whether to have genetic testingfor diseases that can be inherited genetic testing can be used in different situations the type of testing most often used to check for cancer risk is called predictive gene testing it s used to look for gene mutations that might put a person at risk of getting a diseaseenetic testing is the process of using medical tests to look for changes mutations in a person s genes or chromosomes hundreds of different genetic tests are used today and more are being developed genetic testing for diseases that can be inherited genetic testing can be used in different situations