Olivia Munn said her breast cancer risk assessment score "saved" her life. What is it?
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A popular actress is sharing her story to encourage others to be their own health advocate.
At 43 years old, actress Olivia Munn says she's "lucky" to have caught an aggressive form of breast cancer. Munn posted on social media that doctors diagnosed her two months after she tested negative for the breast cancer gene and after a normal mammogram.
She wrote her doctor "decided to calculate my breast cancer risk assessment score. The fact she did saved my life."
The high-risk score led her to get additional testing in the form of a breast MRI, which caught her cancer.
"Density is white on the mammogram and cancer is white. So, in a woman with very dense breasts, there could be a cancer that is not detected," said Dr. Marcela Bohm-Velez, president of Weinstein Imaging Associates.
Dr. Bohm-Velez said she unfortunately sees this a lot. She's glad Munn is spreading awareness about asking for your breast cancer risk assessment score.
"First of all, I want to tell you the majority of women we diagnose with breast cancer are not high risk, but it's important for you early on to realize what your risks are," she said.
Dr. Bohm-Velez says your doctor can calculate your risk score by taking into consideration the following: if you're a woman, your age, age of your first menstrual period, age of your first childbirth, radiation history, family history and biopsy history.
"If you have a lifetime risk of greater than 20 percent at any time, that's considered high risk and those patients should have additional monitoring. For example, a breast MRI is recommended," Bohm-Velez said.
"You have fatty tissue, but the white is the dense tissue that you have," said Dr. Danielle Sharek of Weinstein Imaging.
KDKA-TV's Meghan Schiller's mammogram showed extremely dense tissue. Doctors say all the white would mask any cancer, so it's common to undergo additional testing that same day.
"We recommend a screening breast ultrasound as a supplement in anyone with dense tissue," said Dr. Sharek.
That's why doctors at Weinstein Imaging Associates always suggest an ultrasound for the 47% of the population with dense tissue.
And know this next fact if you're later asking insurance to cover a breast MRI.
"We helped pass a law in Pennsylvania that says that screening breast MRIs should be covered by your insurance, so Pennsylvania insurance companies should cover the screening breast MRIs," Dr. Bohm Velez said.