BREAST CANCER UPDATE- REDUCING RISK

 

WE ALMOST ALL KNOW SOMEONE AFFECTED BY BREAST CANCER. WHAT CAN WE DO TO IMPROVE OUR HEALTH AND REDUCE RISK?

A new web-based tool is available at https://www.petermac.org/iprevent to help women understand their personal breast cancer risk and then act on it.
It is designed to be used collaboratively by women and their doctors. Women can use it at home, print the output and bring it to a consultation for discussion with their Women's Health doctor.

Here's How It Works:
iPrevent asks women to first enter their family cancer history, lifestyle and reproductive risk factor information. Using that information, it then provides 10 year and residual life-time risk estimates. There are options to view these as pictograms or graphs. It then provides tailored estimates of the absolute risk reductions for relevant breast cancer prevention strategies, personalised lifestyle change suggestions, and tailored advice on breast cancer screening. Women can print out a summary to take to a medical consultation for discussion, and so the doctor can incorporate it into the woman’s medical record.

WHAT CAN WE DO WITH THIS INFORMATION?

We can use our risk assessment information to positively impact on our health! For instance, reducing breast cancer risk may mean needing to loose weight and exercise more. Knowing that our risk can be reduced might be the motivation we need to do that.
Furthermore being aware of our health risks may also influence our decision making in other areas. For example the type of contraception to use, when to start a family or whether to use hormone replacement after menopause.

Our doctors at AWARE are able to help you to interpret and act on your personal health information.

ADELAIDE WOMEN'S ADVANCED REPRODUCTIVE ENDOSURGERY