Do breast cancer treatment and imaging providers follow hereditary breast and ovarian cancer risk screening guidelines?

207 Background: Women with personal or family history suggestive of susceptibility to hereditary breast or ovarian cancer (HBOC) should be referred to genetic assessment (USPSTF, Ann Intern Med. 2005). Women with HBOC have a 50-85% lifetime risk of breast cancer, 30-50% of breast cancer before 50 years old,15-50% lifetime risk of ovarian cancer, and 40-60% chance of developing a second breast cancer (ASCO Cancer.net HBOC 8/2013). Our goal is to examine if this almost decade old guideline is followed in breast cancer treatment and breast cancer imaging centers in a large metropolitan area. Methods: We conducted an IRB approved web survey of all 35 breast cancer treatment sites (5 academic, 21 community, 9 public or safety net) and 58 breast imaging sites (5 academic, 27 community, 26 public or safety net) in Chicago. Results were analyzed using simple frequencies and Fisher's exact test. Results: We achieved a response rate of 91% (32/35 treatment sites, 53/58 imaging sites). We found that 56% (18/32) of treatment sites have a hereditary cancer syndrome (HBOC) screening process for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients. Most of these sites, 83% (15/18), always use genetic test results in surgical decisions, as compared to 21% (3/14) of sites that do not have an HBOC screening process, p=0.0009. Only 8% (4/53) of breast imaging sites have an HBOC screening process and provide indicated patients genetic assessment information and/or referrals. While 38% (20/53) of imaging sites conduct daily internal staff discussions of hereditary risk, only 15% of them (3/20) provide genetic assessment information to indicated patients. We found no statistically significant difference between practices of academic, community, public and safety net sites. Conclusions: Breast cancer treatment sites have partial adherence to HBOC risk screening guidelines; while breast imaging sites rarely adhere to HBOC risk assessment guidelines. Consistent HBOC risk screening protocols are needed in breast cancer treatment and breast cancer imaging sites that include providing indicated patients information about, and access to, genetic assessment.