Identifying Risk The Boone Hospital Center’s High Risk Breast Clinic and Harris Breast Center usher in a new era of preventative screening for women in Mid-Missouri.
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n the United States alone, one in eight women will develop breast cancer through the course of their lifetime. It is the number one cause of cancer in women, and while lung cancer is the leading cause of death due to cancer in women, breast cancer is expected to overtake that number within the next 10 years. To help change these statistics, Terry Elwing, MD, director of the Harris Breast Center, and Anne Petersen, MD, are leading the charge by formalizing the screening process at the High Risk Breast Clinic. The Harris Breast Center has been providing women with breast health services at high-volume for years. The High Risk Breast Clinic takes the work a step further, seeking to identify patients and families with elevated risks of developing breast cancer. The High Risk Breast Clinic is run by Dr. Petersen, along with Nurse Practitioner Tiffany Carmichael. The clinic provides patients with an indepth assessment of their lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. The clinic runs six different statistical models that are designed to compare the population risk for developing breast cancer. The information is recorded with stateof-the-art technology and stored in a database for comparison. Advancing age, dense breast tissue, and hormonal factors, such as late pregnancy, are general risk factors; however, a family history of breast or ovarian cancers can often be one of the most telling indications of a high-risk patient.
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BOONE HOSPITAL CENTER
Fall 2020
