Management of Patients at High Risk for Breast Cancer

Assessment and management of predisposition to specific diseases is currently a very hot dimension of medicine. Once purely the realm of epidemiologists, the emergence of molecular genetic testing and other highly sophisticated diagnostic and prognostic techniques has made risk assessment and care a part of the work of many clinicians--from GPs to the super-specialist. Nowhere has the study of "prognostic factors" been more high-profile (and more clinically fruitful) than in breast cancer. Breakthroughs in the identification of genes associated with breast carcinoma, particularly BRCA1 and 2, as well as other risk factors, influence not only how patients are screened, but also how they are treated. With one in nine women likely to contract breast cancer in her lifetime, the significance of identifying and managing the high-risk patient is evident.

1. Epidemiology of Breast Cancer.

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2. Genetics of Breast Cancer.

3. Clinical Characteristics of Genetically Determined Breast Cancer.

4. Quantitative Breast Cancer Risk Assessment.

5. Clinical Characteristics of Genetically Determined Ovarian Cancer.

6. Genetic Screening for Ovarian Cancer Risk Assessment.

7. Contemporary Breast Imaging in the High Risk Assessment.

8. Imaging Guided Percutaneous Biopsies.

9. New Horizons in Breast Imaging.

10. Development of a Risk Assessment Clinic.

11. Prophylactic Mastectomy.

12. Chemoprevention: Reducing Breast Cancer Risk.

13. Psychological Management of Women at RIsk for Breast Cancer.

14. Legal and Ethical Issues in Risk Assessment, Management and Testing.

15. Cost Effectiveness of the Identification of Women at High Risk for the Development of Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer.

16. Population-Based Prevention Strategies.

Index

Victor G. Vogel, MD is Director of the Comprehensive Breast Cancer Program at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.