With rising rates of breast cancer in patients younger than 40 years old, oncologists are putting increased emphasis on how to identify individuals who are at high risk for developing the disease before they turn 40, which is the age at which experts recommend that most women begin breast cancer screening.

“Through breast cancer risk assessment, we are able to identify high-risk younger individuals who [may] benefit from screening at an earlier age,” said Sonya A. Reid, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. “Beyond identifying high-risk individuals, the critical next step is implementing appropriate follow-up and risk management strategies.”

During the 2025 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium^®, Dr. Reid will moderate a session exploring the optimal surveillance, imaging, and management strategies for young women at increased risk for breast cancer, including prevention approaches that balance fertility considerations with risk reduction. Clinical Workshop: Risk Assessment and Management in Young Women will take place on Tuesday, December 9, from 12:45 to 2:15 p.m. CT in Hemisfair Ballroom 1-2 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.

Allison W. Kurian, MD, MSc, Professor of Medicine (Oncology) and of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University, will provide an overview of surveillance strategies for young women, examining when and how often they should be screened for breast cancer.

“Identifying an individual may be at high risk for developing breast cancer is only the first step. To truly enable early detection and intercept breast cancer, we must ensure that screening and surveillance are performed at optimal intervals,” Dr. Reid said. “This will allow us to diagnose breast cancer earlier in young women.”

Emily F. Conant, MD, Emeritus Professor CE of Radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, will discuss novel imaging modalities for young women — a vital piece of the screening puzzle, Dr. Reid said.

“We know in this younger group, these patients usually have higher breast density, which makes mammography harder to detect lesions, so we have to be thinking about novel imaging techniques that would be more suited for our younger patients,” she said.

Another speaker, Alison Laws, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary, will explore whether the management of pre-malignant lesions, including atypia, in young women should differ from the management of those with a cancer diagnosis.

Seema A. Khan, MD, the Bluhm Family Professor of Cancer Research at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University, will share considerations for breast cancer prevention with a focus on balancing fertility and risk, as risk-reduction strategies aimed at breast cancer prevention sometimes come at the cost of a person’s fertility. It is a delicate balancing act, particularly for those under age 40, Dr. Reid noted. Someone who wants to try to have a child in the next five years, for example, may not want to remove their ovaries to reduce their risk of cancer.

“There needs to be a discussion about balancing the fertility desires with the risk-reduction recommendations for these younger individuals,” Dr. Reid explained.

The workshop will conclude with a panel discussion that includes independent research patient advocate Vernal Branch, of Richmond, Virginia.

“I am hoping that clinicians in the audience will get some practical insights on how to individualize their care and to be aware of some of the evolving technologies to improve outcomes for younger women at risk of developing breast cancer,” Dr. Reid said.