Management of the high-risk patient.
Comprehensive breast cancer risk management is a practical tool that can now be regarded as a necessary clinical component of women's health. Risk assessment is the starting point for counseling women about risk, and it facilitates rational decision-making about prophylactic surgery, initiation of screening at an early age, and initiating preventive interventions. The availability of risk assessment models permit rapid risk calculation during routine clinical encounters, and risk profiles can be easily updated at subsequent clinical visits. Clinicians can now incorporate risk assessment and management into their routine screening and health maintenance appointments. Additional prospective clinical trials should be conducted to define the optimal use of existing management strategies, develop refined risk assessment instruments that incorporate additional risk-factor information, and evaluate populations for whom validated risk-assessment approaches do not yet exist.
Vogel
Victor G
VG
University of Pittsburgh, Department of Medicine, 3550 Terrace Street, Scaife 1218, Pittsburgh PA 15261, USA. vvogel@mail.magee.edu
D000328:Adult; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D018570:Risk Assessment