UCSF researchers validate new model for breast cancer risk

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have developed a way to quickly estimate a woman's risk for invasive breast cancer. The new model, based on a measure of breast density that is already reported with the majority of mammograms today, is the first to be validated across multiple ethnic groups living in the United States.

The model could one day be used to help calculate a woman’s risk for breast cancer each time she has a mammogram, providing her with a realistic sense of her likelihood to develop breast cancer in the future.

“Breast density is the strongest risk factor after age for developing breast cancer,” said lead author Jeffrey Tice, MD, assistant professor in the Department of General Internal Medicine at UCSF. “Unfortunately, there is no model currently available to clinicians for assessing breast cancer risk that includes this important risk factor.

source: University of California, SF