Slidell Memorial Hospital opens new High-Risk Breast Clinic

(April 13, 2021 – Slidell, La.) – Slidell Memorial Hospital (SMH) brings a new High-Risk Breast Clinic to eastern St. Tammany Parish for patients who may have an increased risk for developing breast cancer. The new clinic aims to bring awareness to patients of their risk factors and educate them about their options, including advanced breast screening and preventive measures.

“The High-Risk Breast Clinic is now offered in the community to help identify those patients who are at a higher risk for developing breast cancer over their lifetime,” said SMH Director of Imaging Services Noel Venezia, MBA, RT, (R)(M). “This is a pro-active approach that aims to help our patients develop and follow a risk-management plan, instead of waiting to review options after a cancer diagnosis.”

As breast cancer risk is a complex and often confusing topic, SMH Imaging Center provides its mammography patients with an individualized estimated lifetime risk assessment. Each patient who receives a mammogram at the SMH Imaging Center is given a Tyrer-Cuzick (TC) score, which is used to calculate a person’s likelihood of developing breast cancer in 10 years and over the course of their lifetime. The estimate is calculated from information patients provide at the time of their mammography visit, such as family history, biopsy pathology and other medical history. The average lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is approximately 13%. Patients with a lifetime risk (TC score) of greater than 20% are considered to have an elevated risk of developing breast cancer. The American Cancer Society recommends that women with a 20% or greater lifetime risk consider additional evaluation such as a Breast MRI.

If the patient has a score of 20% or higher, the nurse navigator at the SMH Regional Cancer Center contacts the patient to determine if they would like to be seen in the High-Risk Breast Clinic by Oncology Nurse Practitioner Jodie Harrison, MSN, APRN, AGNP-C, OCN. Harrison will discuss with the patient their TC score, how to decrease this score, and she will assess whether further testing is necessary.

“Breast cancer is the most diagnosed and treated cancer in patients seen at the SMH Regional Cancer Center,” said Lisa Reso, RN, BSN, OCN, director of the SMH Regional Cancer Center. “Having this new High-Risk Breast Clinic will greatly benefit our community by helping to catch breast cancer in the very early stages, and ultimately, save lives.”

Appointments will be held on Wednesday and Thursday each week. Patients may be referred by their physicians to the breast clinic. For more information about this High-Risk Breast Clinic, please call the SMH Regional Cancer Center Nurse Navigator at (985) 280-6672.