Breast Cancer Risk Assessment

Understanding Your Potential Risk

Understanding Your Risk

X-Ray Associates of New Mexico has added the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment tool as a complementary addition to our array of breast screening and diagnostic services. The Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment tool requires answering a simple set of questions at check-in and incorporates a comprehensive set of variables to assess a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer. The result is an estimate of the likelihood a woman will develop invasive breast cancer specifically within 10 years of her current age, as well as over the course of her lifetime.

The Tyrer-Cuzick model is able to reliably identify if a woman is at a greater-than-average risk of breast cancer and determines if that woman would benefit from supplemental breast MRI or breast ultrasound, in addition to her annual screening mammogram. The data collected also identifies families at high risk of hereditary cancer that would benefit from genetics testing and consultation.

X-Ray Associates of New Mexico now routinely includes the patient’s lifetime risk calculation and subsequent recommendations on the mammogram report. Below is a detailed breakdown of the risk categories, as determined by the Tyrer-Cuzick model, and details our breast cancer screening recommendations for each risk category.

Understanding Tyrer-Cuzick

Trusted

The primary reason we use the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment tools (version 7 and version 8) is that they are quickly becoming the industry standard to assist with the diagnosis of invasive breast cancer, especially for women with dense breast tissue.

In addition to annual screening mammograms, the risk assessment helps to identify the potential for invasive breast cancer earlier than what was previously possible. By knowing your potential risk category you will be armed with the knowledge to accurately discuss the potential to add diagnostic imaging into your annual checkups.

Accurate

Another reason we use the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment tools is that they are very accurate.

A recent study has found that the Tyrer-Cuzick breast cancer risk assessment tool is accurate for at least 19 years. The study and research were published online in 2018 by The Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA Oncology. To read this research study, and others, click here.

Peace of Mind

Early detection and prevention are crucial to surviving breast cancer. Detecting the invasive breast cancer in its beginning stages drastically increases the survival rate. The XRANM Risk Assessment Tools give you peace of mind and the ability to make more informed decisions about your breast care and your annual breast cancer screenings.

Risk Categories

Learn more about the breakdown of each percentage, by clicking on the images above or by scrolling down and looking at the sections below.

If you’ve taken the Risk Assessment and have fallen into the Average Risk category, it is recommended that you continue your annual screening mammogram.

Non-Dense Breast Tissue

If you’ve taken the Risk Assessment and have fallen into the Intermediate Risk category, and your breast tissue is determined to be non-dense, it is recommended that you continue your annual screening mammogram.

Dense Breast Tissue

If you’ve taken the Risk Assessment and have fallen into the Intermediate Risk category, and your breast tissue is determined to be dense, it is recommended that you continue your annual screening mammogram, and include breast ultrasound as well.

If you’ve taken the Risk Assessment and have fallen into the High Risk category, it is recommended that you continue your annual screening mammogram, and include breast MRI as well.