Swati Biswas, , was one of the researchers who worked on developing the new tool. Six years ago, she and others created CBCRisk, which measures breast cancer survivors鈥� chance of developing contralateral breast cancer. It looks into , family history, breast density and first breast cancer type.
鈥淲hen we wrote the proposal, nothing like this even existed,鈥� Biswas said.
Contralateral breast cancer (CBC) is when a person develops a tumor in the second breast within a year or more of their first breast cancer diagnosis. According to a 2021 article in the journal of Breast Cancer Research, CBC is
Biswas and other researchers updated the tool this year to address the racial disparities in breast cancer patients, called . According to a recent Black breast cancer survivors 鈥渉ave a higher risk of developing contralateral breast cancer than whites.鈥� In addition, Biswas said Black people tend to get more aggressive and advanced-stage breast cancer than their white counterparts.
鈥淭hat counseling needs to be more tailored,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his one-size-fits-all doesn鈥檛 seem like the right way to go. Their risk is higher. Their risk factors are somewhat different combinations.鈥�
More data on Black breast cancer patients is needed
Biswas said one challenge in developing the tool was finding data on Black breast cancer survivors over time to use as a model.
鈥淗opefully moving forward with this awareness, there will be more research studies, more follow-up studies where this kind of data is collected,鈥� she said.
says one reason there鈥檚 a lack of data on Black breast cancer survivors could be because in the 1950s and 1960s, white American women became the face of breast cancer awareness, including people like Betty Ford and Nancy Reagan.
鈥淏y virtue of their social power, they were pushing for more research,鈥� Stark said. 鈥淲hite American women were identifying with these women, as a result, they participated in much of the population-based research. When I was in my training in the late '80s, early '90s, we believed breast cancer was a disease of white American women, not African Americans or [people of] other racial heritage.鈥�
Both Stark and Biswas say there鈥檚 on Black breast cancer patients than twenty years ago, but there鈥檚 still work to be done.
Knowing family history is one way of assessing breast cancer risk
In addition to using tools like CBCRisk, Stark recommends people perform breast self-exams, and get regular breast cancer screenings starting at age 30.
Stark says it鈥檚 also important for everyone to have conversations with family members about their health history.
鈥淯nderstanding the type of diseases that are common in the family is very, very important,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to open up and understand what grandma died of, what grandpa died of, so a person understands their history of diseases in their family.鈥�
Biwas says it鈥檚 encouraging to see her work applied in a clinical setting, offering more options to providers and patients to make choices about their health.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very fulfilling to see this math we鈥檙e doing really help patients,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e able to give back in some way through statistical tools.鈥�
Got a tip? Email Elena Rivera at erivera@kera.org. You can follow Elena on Twitter .
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