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With 1 in 8 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States, chances are you know or are close to someone who has been affected. When a loved one or family member is diagnosed with breast cancer, it’s natural to have questions—and even some worry—about your own risk. You might also feel unsure of what to do next, especially if you are under the age of 40, since routine mammograms typically aren’t recommended until then.
While breast cancer cannot usually be prevented, there are certain risk factors to be aware of that may increase your chances of one day developing breast cancer. There are even tools available to help you and your doctor better understand your personal risk, even before the traditional screening age of 40. One of those tools is the Tyrer-Cuzick model. Recently made into a household topic by actor and model Olivia Munn, the Tyrer-Cuzik model is a risk assessment tool that can offer clarity and guide next steps for the early detection of breast cancer.
The Tyrer-Cuzick model, also called the International Breast Intervention Study (IBIS), is an assessment calculator that uses key factors from someone’s personal and family medical history to estimate their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer.
To calculate a person’s score, the Tyrer-Cuzick model considers many personal and family medical history factors, including:
By looking at your unique combination of these factors, this tool provides a risk score that can help you and your doctor determine the best breast cancer screening schedule for you, and if additional screening or preventive steps might be appropriate.
While the Tyrer-Cuzick model is a useful tool in helping determine a person’s potential risk for developing breast cancer, it is not without certain risks. The main risk of taking the Tyrer-Cuzick test is the stress and anxiety that an elevated score on the test may cause.
It is important to keep in mind that an elevated score on the test does not mean that an individual will develop breast cancer. There are many individual risk factors involved, and while a person’s risk can be calculated using this tool, it is impossible to know for sure if a person will or will not develop cancer throughout their lifetime.
While breast cancer is more commonly diagnosed in women over 40, it does occur in younger women too, especially in those with a strong family history of breast cancer or other risk factors, such as a breast cancer gene mutation.
In many cases, risk assessment through a tool such as Tyrer-Cuzick can be the first step in providing at-risk individuals with earlier or more frequent screening, more detailed screening through breast MRI or ultrasound, and lead to open and ongoing discussions with their healthcare providers about their breast health.
The Tyrer-Cuzick tool is available online, and many clinics and doctors’ offices also offer it as part of their risk assessment process. However, despite the Tyrer-Cuzick test being readily available online for individuals to take at their convenience, this test is typically done in a clinical setting and is best interpreted by a medical expert.
If you are interested in taking the Tyrer-Cuzick test, follow these steps:
Examples of how to discuss this topic with your doctor may sound like:
There are other breast cancer risk assessment tools in addition to the Tyrer-Cuzick model. The National Cancer Institute provides a Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (BCRAT) that helps healthcare professionals estimate a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer in her lifetime. As with the Tyrer-Cuzick assessment, the BCRAT tool is available online, but results should be discussed with your doctor.
Your breast health journey is deeply personal, and there’s no “one-size-fits-all” approach to early detection. But there are tools, like the Tyrer-Cuzick model, that can help you and your doctor make choices based on your own personal characteristics and history.
Whether the Tyrer-Cuzick model has given you peace of mind about your breast cancer risk or has opened the door for screening discussions with your doctor, NBCF is here for you every step of the way. Visit nbcf.org to learn more about breast health and breast cancer.
National Breast Cancer Foundation is here for you as you navigate a breast cancer diagnosis. Visit our website to learn about NBCF breast cancer support groups, obtain free educational resources, or find a patient navigator in your area.
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