A High-Tech Answer For Women At High Risk of Breast Cancer

“Where do I go from here?”

That’s the question that comes to mind for many women who’ve been told they face a high risk of breast cancer sometime in their lives.

Currently, women who may be at high risk for breast cancer are typically identified through their family history alone with their primary care physician or annual gynecologist visit.

St. Clair Health now offers the Tyrer-Cuzick Risk Assessment Calculator, which will start there and dig deeper. It will gather information such as personal and obstetric history from the patient’s intake form at their screening mammogram appointment, then add breast density to the equation to calculate a score that estimates the patient’s likelihood of developing breast cancer in their lifetime. Adding the imaging data will identify more patients that may be at a higher future risk than is possible by evaluating their history alone.

The risk assessment tool will soon be a key component of St. Clair Health’s High Risk Breast Imaging Program, which is about to become a key part of the Breast Care Center. That’s where a team of specialists will combine their expertise with advanced technology, including an innovative risk calculator tool that allows them to identify high-risk patients who aren’t sure what to do or where to turn before they’re actually diagnosed. By capturing cases before they even exist, doctors can take proactive steps to develop strategies and care plans that can give patients some much-needed peace of mind. The new risk calculator tool, which will be used with every patient who comes to St. Clair for a screening mammogram, will be based on a questionnaire that includes family history and other risk factors.

“This is about helping you understand where you are so we can get you where you need to go,” says Raye J. Budway, MD, Director of St. Clair’s Breast Care Center, adding, “The new High Risk Breast Program will help standardize the evaluation of each patient and allow access to all patients who have their screening mammograms at St. Clair Hospital’s Breast Care Center.”

The new program will become operational in two phases. The first is focused on adding the risk assessment tool to the patient screening protocol. Patients identified as high-risk will be guided through more concentrated screenings. The second phase revolves around you—building a team of breast care specialists to walk with you through the journey and assist in preventative exams and tests.

Bibianna A. Klepchick, MD, Director of Breast Imaging at St. Clair, is teaming with Dr. Budway on the launch of the new program to oversee its maintenance and quality assurance. For her, the goal is to “give women who are at an increased risk of developing breast cancer clinical support, along with tools to keep a closer eye on their breast health. By identifying these patients, we hope to catch their cancers earlier, giving them a much better chance of survival. This valuable screening tool is already available for patients, and we’re also in the process of launching a clinical program that’ll include a breast care specialist who follows each high-risk patient and participates in their care. We hope to have all the pieces in place for this program by the end of this year.”

Dr. Klepchick will direct how the imaging services will be used to both identify high-risk patients and recommend any additional examinations that may be beneficial in their care. The most important of these services, from an imaging standpoint, will be adding a yearly screening breast MRI to the patient’s routine annual mammogram.

An annual breast MRI is currently St. Clair’s most sensitive noninvasive examination for the detection of breast cancer. The added care and support provided by a breast care specialist will be invaluable to these patients who are at higher risk and need to be followed more closely.

Dr. Klepchick’s colleague, Andrea Sanfilippo, MD, a breast radiologist, looks forward to the launch of the St. Clair High Risk Breast Imaging Program, saying, “It’s a program made up of a multidisciplinary team of experts in breast health. We’re all fully committed to working together to identify high-risk patients and creating a unique plan for each person, with a single goal: to prevent breast cancer. It starts the moment the patient walks through our doors. We’ll continue to do what’s at the heart of the Breast Care Center, providing each patient with the care and support that are essential when it comes to breast health. Every patient who we treat should know that they’re not just a number at St. Clair Health, but part of a tight-knit community where our top priority is giving patients the best possible care—both medically and personally.”

Technology plays a critical role in breast imaging, from the detection and diagnosis of breast cancer to ongoing surveillance. A major focus of the new clinic will be its ability to use ultrasound, stereotactic, and MRI guidance to precisely locate and biopsy even the most challenging lesions.

“We’ve detected a number of cancers as small as three millimeters,” says Dr. Sanfilippo. “We’re able to precisely locate and biopsy suspicious areas through ultrasound, stereotactic, and MRI guidance. We provide ongoing monitoring of patients with mammogram, ultrasound, and MRI. Our technology means we can provide the highest level of care to our patients. Using the most advanced, highest quality imaging and diagnostics, we can design a unique plan for each one.”

St. Clair Health will be one of the nation’s few independent hospitals with a program of this caliber. What sets this program apart is that St. Clair is dedicated to providing individual and personal care to every patient who steps through our door. “You’re not just a patient at St. Clair Health,” says Dr. Sanfilippo, “you’re part of a family, and we will provide you the best possible care. Our program is fully committed to taking care of every patient from the moment they walk through our doors for a routine screening mammogram. The High Risk Breast Imaging Program will work hard to meet the needs of each patient and design the best possible plan that’s unique to that individual.”

“At St. Clair Health, we’re lucky to have the most state-of-the-art equipment both for breast imaging and procedures,” says Dr. Klepchick. “Our multidisciplinary Breast Care Center has always been exceptional. We feel that this program is the next level of care… it’ll help us continue to elevate cancer care in our system and give patients the best possible care, close to home.”

She sees another advantage to the new program and the risk calculator tool: “It’ll help us maintain our excellence in delivering quality, patient-specific care. With our innovative, integrated approach, St. Clair has what it takes to stay ahead of the curve in patient care— and that’s what we plan to do.”