This week, the actress Olivia Munn shared that she was diagnosed with and treated for breast cancer final yr, and credited a threat calculator with serving to her physician catch the most cancers early.
“Ask your physician to calculate your Breast Cancer Risk Evaluation Rating,” Ms. Munn urged the general public in her submit.
Medical consultants are enthusiastic concerning the highlight on threat calculators, however they warning that the outcomes are solely tough estimates and have to be interpreted with the assistance of a physician. Right here’s what to know.
What do breast most cancers threat calculators think about?
About one in eight girls will develop breast most cancers in her lifetime. However instruments just like the one Ms. Munn’s physician used can supply a extra personalised image of a person affected person’s threat.
There are two fundamental calculators: the Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool, also referred to as the Gail mannequin, and the Tyrer-Cuzick Risk Assessment Calculator, additionally referred to as the IBIS mannequin. Each ask customers their age, race, ethnicity, household historical past of breast most cancers, after they first began their intervals, and, if they’ve kids, how previous they had been after they had their first youngster. All of those components can affect an individual’s threat of breast most cancers.
The IBIS calculator additionally asks for details about a person’s biopsy historical past, breast density and the age at which any relations had been identified with breast most cancers.
