In the wake of Olivia Munn’s announcement of her breast cancer diagnosis, she is continuing to raise awareness of the risk assessment tool that saved her life. Dr. Shiv Sudhakar, MD wrote an article about breast cancer risk assessment for TODAY, including an interview with Olivia Munn’s OB/GYN: Dr. Thais Aliabadi.
Olivia Munn diagnosed with breast cancer
Munn’s breast cancer journey started in February 2023, when she took a genetic test that looks for 90 different cancer genes “to be proactive about my health,” she wrote. She tested negative for the most commonly inherited breast cancer gene, known as BRCA.
Despite a “normal” mammogram in early 2023, she said her doctor decided to go a step further and calculate her breast cancer risk assessment score because she had some concerning risk factors, such as having her first child after the age of 30.

Munn’s score revealed a 37% lifetime risk of breast cancer.
“The way I explained it to my patients (is) if you had a 37.5% chance of boarding a plane that would crash, would you ever board that plane? And the answer is almost always no,” Aliabadi, host of the SheMD podcast, said in an exclusive interview on TODAY.
Munn underwent additional imaging, including an MRI and ultrasound, which ultimately led to a biopsy, revealing an aggressive cancer known as luminal B on both breasts. Her medical team acted quickly, performing a double mastectomy 30 days after the biopsy.
“Olivia chose to go with the double mastectomy to basically prevent her risk of recurrence because she was diagnosed so early,” Aliabdi explained.
“I went from feeling completely fine one day, to waking up in a hospital bed after a 10-hour surgery the next,” Munn recalled.
Had Munn not undergone the assessment, “potentially, (the) cancer would have grown,” Aliabadi added. “She had an aggressive cancer. She probably wouldn’t have been early stage.”
Munn hopes sharing her medical ordeal “will help others find comfort, inspiration and support on their own journey.”
TODAY.com spoke with oncologists about the breast cancer risk assessment tool and who should use it.
What is a breast cancer risk assessment score?
“A breast cancer risk assessment score is calculated using a mathematical model that incorporates various risk factors that have been shown to be associated with breast cancer,” Dr. Jennifer Plichta, director of the Breast Risk Assessment Clinic at Duke Cancer Institute, tells TODAY.com.
The most commonly used one is called the Gail Model, NBC News medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula explained on TODAY.
Other providers use different breast cancer risk assessment scores to evaluate the risk of developing breast cancer in their patients.
One of the most common is the Tyrer-Cuzick Risk Calculator, which evaluates the 10-year and lifetime risks of developing breast cancer, Dr. Melanie Sheen, breast medical oncologist at Ochsner MD Anderson Cancer Center in New Orleans, tells TODAY.com.
This assessment tool evaluates a woman’s risk factors, similar to the Gail Model, but also includes breast density and the use of hormone therapy in menopause.
How to calculate your breast cancer risk assessment score
The calculator can be found online on the National Cancer Institute’s website and takes about five minutes to complete.
During a visit, a doctor will go through the calculator with the patient, which includes multiple questions relating to various possible risk factors, such as reproductive and family history of breast cancer, that are associated with breast cancer, Plichta says.
After the questions are completed, the calculator provides two scores: an estimated risk of developing invasive breast cancer over the next five years and an estimated lifetime risk up to age 90.
Some medical facilities now calculate patients’ breast cancer risk assessment scores automatically during routine visits with the information in the patient’s electronic medical records.
“Duke provides this service (automatic risk calculations) for patients that get their mammograms at Duke,” Plichta notes.
If you have a high breast cancer risk assessment score…
Women are considered high risk for developing breast cancer if they have a five-year risk score of 1.67% or higher, or a lifetime risk of 20% or higher.
High scores on these risk assessments calculators often prompt doctors to order additional screening beyond a mammogram, such as an MRI.
A mammogram uses special X-ray imaging to look at the density of breast tissue and breast calcifications, but an MRI uses strong magnets to look for abnormal blood vessels that develop in breast tissue due to cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
In high-risk patients, doctors emphasize an MRI doesn’t replace a mammogram, but instead allows a more complete picture to rule out breast cancer.
In Munn’s case, she had a normal mammogram, but it was the abnormal MRI that prompted further testing.
“There are patients who don’t have cancer and they walk around with this high lifetime risk, and they need to know that just doing mammogram is not going to be enough,” Aliabadi said.
Read the entire article on TODAY.com.
Make Dr. Aliabadi your OB/GYN today!
A breast cancer survivor herself, Dr. Aliabadi is intimately familiar with how a diagnosis can turn your world upside down. Along with her warm, compassionate team, Dr. Aliabadi provides medical care and support to women in every stage of their lives, from routine exams to pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. If you have questions or concerns about your breast cancer risk, we invite you to reach out to Dr. Aliabadi and her expert team.
We invite you to establish care with Dr. Aliabadi. Please make an appointment online or call us at (844) 863-6700.
The practice of Dr. Thais Aliabadi is conveniently located for patients throughout Southern California and the Los Angeles area, near Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, West Los Angeles, Culver City, Hollywood, Venice, Marina del Rey, Malibu, Manhattan Beach, and Downtown Los Angeles, to name a few.
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