Frequently Asked Questions

  • To book a personalised screening at Melbourne Comprehensive Breast Care, you can follow these steps:

    1. Use our online risk assessment tool here to calculate your risk.

    2. Register your profile online by visiting our New Client Registration page.

    3. Contact us directly to book your imaging:

    Our team will guide you through the process and help coordinate the right tests based on your individual risk profile.

  • At Melbourne Comprehensive Breast Care, we assess several key risk factors to provide a personalized breast screening plan. These include:

    Family History: The number of relatives affected by breast and ovarian cancer and their ages at diagnosis are crucial for refining your risk assessment.

    Personal Health and Hormonal Factors: This includes your age, age at first period, and age at first childbirth.

    Breast Density: The density of your breast tissue can influence your risk and the effectiveness of screening methods.

    Lifestyle Factors: Weight, hormonal treatments, and reproductive history are also considered.

    Previous biopsy results.

    We utilize the IBIS (Tyrer–Cuzick) model for a comprehensive risk assessment, which estimates both your year-by-year and lifetime risk. If you have any further questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out!

  • Risk assessment is the foundation of personalised breast screening. We can only create a screening plan tailored to you once we understand your individual risk.

  • Our calculator is based on the internationally‑validated IBIS (Tyrer–Cuzick) model which has been widely accepted as the most comprehensive risk model due to more detailed data collection. No tool is perfect, but it provides one of the most reliable estimates available when combined with breast density. The more detail you provide, the more accurate and personalised your risk assessment will be.

  • Family history of breast and ovarian cancer is one of the strongest risk factors. Knowing the number of relatives affected and their age at diagnosis helps refine your personalised risk.

  • If you don’t know some or all of your family history, or genetic testing results, simply leave those fields blank. Any unanswered questions are treated as ‘unknown’ and the calculator adjusts your risk score accordingly.

  • If a question is not marked as required (*), you may simply leave it blank. For required questions, an “I don’t know” option is usually available. All questions have been designed for non-healthcare professionals, though two items — your previous breast biopsy and your breast density — may sound a little technical. You can find these details in your past biopsy report or mammogram result. If you’re still unsure, just select “I don’t know.”

    The more questions you are able to answer, the more accurate your personalised results will be.

  • Yes. Weight, alcohol, hormones, and reproductive history all play a role. The calculator includes many of these factors when estimating your risk.

  • Absolutely. New family history, biopsies, or hormonal changes (pregnancy, menopause, HRT) can all alter risk estimates. That’s why we recommend updating your assessment when things change.

  • We compare your calculated risk with the average woman’s risk in the population. The categories are:

    • Average risk: less than 1.5× the population risk

    • Moderate risk: 1.5–3× the population risk

    • High risk: greater than 3× the population risk

  • Yes. Special techniques are used to ensure safe, effective imaging.

  • No. MRI is complementary. Microcalcifications—a common early sign of breast cancer—are best seen on mammograms.

  • Dense tissue can obscure cancers on mammograms. We may use contrast- enhanced mammogram, ultrasound or MRI depending on your risk profile.

  • It depends on your risk category. Many women at average risk screen every two years; women at moderate and high risk usually screen yearly. Your MCBC screening recommendation will include the age of start and frequency of your screening.

  • It depends on your age, family history, and risk level. We’ll advise you and the imaging provider of your eligibility prior to your scans.

  • You’ll receive tailored recommendations, which may include earlier and more frequent screening, MRI eligibility, genetic counselling/testing, and referral to a breast specialist.

  • Please book a consult promptly. Symptomatic assessment is different from screening and should not be delayed.

  • No. Your data are handled confidentially and used only to generate your report. Results are shared only with your consent, usually with your GP or nominated specialist.

  • Once you complete the online risk assessment, your personalised PDF report is usually emailed to you within 1–5 minutes. You will know your assessment has been successfully submitted when you see the confirmation (thank-you) page and receive an acknowledgement email.

    If you do not receive this email, please check that you entered a valid email address and look in your junk or spam folder. If you are still having any issues, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly for assistance.

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