New breast cancer risk assessment tool

A new online tool, Breast Screening Decisions, has been made available to assist average risk women 40-49 in deciding whether a screening mammogram is right for them.

The tool gives women in their 40s an individual breast cancer risk assessment and then uses easy-to-understand infographics to show what is likely to happen across a population of similar-risk women. The decision aid is not meant to drive women toward or away from mammography, but to help them make an informed decision. The tool is based on the data the USPSTF used to develop their 2009 recommendations. You can read more about this tool in a NPR article.

The National Cancer Institute’s Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool is also an evidence-based screening tool (recommended by WWC) that can be used to determine risk.