Are diagnostic tools getting better?
How is “high risk” defined? The highest level of risk is people who have inherited mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. This population is at the top of the pyramid, with a 50 to 85% chance of developing breast cancer, as well as a 16 to 40% risk of ovarian cancer. A few other genes have been identified that are linked to an increase in breast cancer, but the magnitude is not as high as with BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. The next tier consists of people who don’t have the mutations but have atypical hyperplasia and lobular carcinoma in situ. These are cellular changes in the breast that are diagnosed on tissue biopsy. In addition, women with a strong family history of breast cancer carry a higher risk of the disease. There are a number of factors here: how closely related the family member with breast cancer is, how old the person was at the time of diagnosis, and whether there’s a pattern of breast cancer in the family compared with one individual. Does it matter if breast cancer is i
