Breast Density May Affect Risk of Cancer November 10
A study conducted by researchers at the Women’s College Research Institute in Toronto indicates that the density of a woman’s breast tissue can mean an increased risk for the recurrence of breast cancer.
Women may need to discuss with their respective physicians the need to include breast density in their overall risk assessment for breast cancer. Detecting a tumor in dense tissue is more difficult, and based on the study; women who have higher breast density scores are six times more likely to develop breast cancer.
One of the things that the researchers did was to look into the medical records of more than three hundred women who have undergone a lumpectomy. They looked at their respective mammograms, evaluated the patients’ breast densities and watched for the recurrence of cancer.
The results of the data analysis indicated that the risk for breast cancer was much higher in women who had higher breast densities when compared to women who had lower breast densities. After a period of ten years, those women who had the highest breast densities were found to be 21% more likely to have a recurrence of breast cancer; and among those women with high-density breast tissue who did not undergo radiation therapy after their lumpectomies, the risk for recurrence increased by 40%.
These analyses indicate that breast density may need to be included as a factor that should be considered when coming up with the most appropriate treatment strategy for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Women whose breasts are denser than others may need to follow-up treatments and therapies in addition to undergoing a lumpectomy.
The reason behind these findings, though, has not yet been determined. The researchers wrote that there was no “biological basis” yet behind the relationships that they found between the density of breast tissue, the risk for breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence.
Tags: breast cancer detection, breast cancer risk, breast cancer tests, breast density risk, early cancer detection