October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Some of the best defensive strategies against breast cancer are early detection and risk reduction, but high-risk individuals can be missed with some routine screening processes. The Ambry CARE Program® (CARE) helps healthcare providers consistently identify high-risk patients by assessing patients’ personal and family histories. The program supports identification of high-risk patients so that they can be offered personalized, proactive care. One CARE patient’s story demonstrates the power of proactive care and comprehensive high-risk screening.
Angie Butler is one of twenty siblings and has felt the impact of cancer in her family for many years. Her older sister was diagnosed with and passed away from stage four breast cancer at age 65. Unfortunately, the cancer was not caught early with routine screening—in fact, Angie’s sister had never had a mammogram prior to her diagnosis. Another sister is currently in remission from endometrial cancer that was diagnosed in her seventies, and Angie has additional family history of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and a brain tumor. This family history suggested Angie may be at higher risk for certain cancers and that her care should be personalized.Genetic testing was negative; however, the CARE assessment also calculates an individual’s breast cancer risk score using personal and family history information. Based on Angie’s breast cancer risk score, she learned she qualified for breast MRI, which can detect some breast cancers that would be missed by routine imaging.1 That breast MRI is how Angie’s care team detected an early-stage breast cancer.
More than 90% of women who qualify for breast MRI have not had one.2,3
Breast cancer is easier to treat when diagnosed early, making early detection key. After a lumpectomy and radiation, Angie was declared cancer free. If she had not qualified for the breast MRI, her next follow-up mammogram and ultrasound would have been in June 2024. Even if the breast cancer could have been detected with mammogram and ultrasound at that point, the later diagnosis may have affected her treatment options and outcome.
I was shocked, but I know this can happen to anyone. I was so grateful that they caught it early. I just feel bad for the people, like my sister, who aren’t as lucky, but I feel like I have to thank her too, because with her history, it made me more proactive in my health.
Angie Butler
Angie’s story highlights the importance of personalized, proactive care. She hopes that it will remind others to know their family history and share it with their healthcare teams. She also hopes it will inspire other healthcare teams to consistently offer their patients comprehensive high-risk screening that could be lifesaving. Angie is grateful to her team at Hartford Healthcare for offering this program and giving her the best care possible.
1. Breastcancer.org. (n.d.). Breast MRI. Breastcancer.org. https://www.breastcancer.org/screening-testing/breast-mri
2. Miles R, Wan F, Onega TL, Lenderink-Carpenter A, O’Meara ES, Zhu W, Henderson LM, Haas JS, Hill DA, Tosteson ANA, Wernli KJ, Alford-Teaster J, Lee JM, Lehman CD, Lee CI. Underutilization of Supplemental Magnetic Resonance Imaging Screening Among Patients at High Breast Cancer Risk. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2018 Jun;27(6):748-754. doi: 10.1089/jwh.2017.6623. Epub 2018 Jan 17. PMID: 29341851; PMCID: PMC6007803.
3. Hill, D. A., Haas, J. S., Wellman, R., Hubbard, R. A., Lee, C. I., Alford-Teaster, J., Wernli, K. J., Henderson, L. M., Stout, N. K., Tosteson, A. N., Kerlikowske, K., & Onega, T. (2017). Utilization of breast cancer screening with Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Community practice. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 33(3), 275–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-017-4224-6
