Study Finds Higher Risk Of Cancer Recurrence In Women With Dense Breasts
December 22, 2011
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A new study finds that girls treated for breast cancer are at higher danger of cancer recurrence if they have dense breasts. Published within the December 15, 2009 problem of Cancer, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study’s results indicate that breast cancer patients with dense breasts could benefit from additional therapies following surgery, like radiation.
Previous studies indicate that women with dense breast tissue are at increased threat of breast cancer. Researchers have suspected that high breast density may also increase the threat of cancer recurrence soon after lumpectomy, but this theory has not been thoroughly studied.
Researchers led by Steven A. Narod, MD, of the Women’s College Study Institute in Toronto, reviewed the medical records of 335 patients who had undergone lumpectomy for breast cancer. Investigators monitored the patients for cancer recurrence and compared recurrence with breast density as seen on mammogram, categorized as low density (<25 percent dense tissue), intermediate density (25 percent to 50 percent dense tissue) or high density (>50 percent dense tissue).
The researchers discovered that patients using the highest breast density had a much greater threat of cancer recurrence than did girls using the lowest breast density. Over ten years, women inside the highest breast density category had a 21 percent chance of cancer recurrence, compared with a five percent chance among females inside the lowest category. The difference within the recurrence rates at ten years was even a lot more pronounced for ladies who did not receive radiation. In those females, 40 percent with high-density breast tissue had a recurrence compared with none of the patients with low density.
“The composition of the breast tissue surrounding the breast cancer is critical in predicting whether or not a breast cancer will return following surgery,” concluded Dr. Narod. The authors say their findings indicate that ladies with low breast density, who have a low chance of recurrence following surgery, might not need radiation but that ladies with high breast density could significantly benefit from the additional therapy.
Article: “Mammographic density and the threat of breast cancer recurrence following breast-conserving surgery.” Tulin Cil, Eve Fishell, Wedad Hanna, Ping Sun, Ellen Rawlinson, Steven A. Narod, and David R. McCready. Cancer; Published Online: November 9, 2009 (DOI: 10.1002/cncr.24638); Print Issue Date: December 15, 2009.
Source: David Sampson
American Cancer Society
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