Researchers Identify Possible New Risk for Breast Cancer

Why It Matters: A Potential Warning Sign

Shu Jiang, the examine’s lead writer and an affiliate professor of public well being sciences at Washington University, mentioned the findings may present an individualized and dynamic device for assessing a girl’s breast most cancers threat. “I hope they can get this into clinical use as soon as possible — it will make a huge difference,” she mentioned.

“Right now, everybody only looks at density at one point in time,” Dr. Jiang added. But girls have mammograms at common intervals all through their lives, and the density of every breast is measured every time.

“So this information is actually already available, but it’s not being utilized,” she mentioned. Now, a girl’s threat of growing breast most cancers might “be updated every time she gets a new mammogram.”

Background: Breast Density Matters

Breast density is now an acknowledged threat issue for breast most cancers, albeit considered one of many. Dense tissue additionally makes tumors more durable to detect in imaging scans.

Dozens of states have began requiring mammography facilities to inform girls if they’ve dense breast tissue. In March, the Food and Drug Administration really helpful that suppliers inform girls about their breast density.

But that is the primary examine to measure adjustments in density over time and to report a hyperlink to breast most cancers.

What’s Next: Finding Women at Risk

Though bigger research will have to be finished to verify the findings, Karen Knudsen, chief govt of the American Cancer Society, referred to as the info “exciting.”

“This is the first study I’ve seen that looks specifically across time at changes from breast to breast, instead of averaging the two breasts, where you might miss these changes,” Dr. Knudsen mentioned.

Although girls are offered the details about breast density and the dangers related to it, the examine means that info could possibly be higher used. “We need to know how to follow women with dense breasts, instead of just alerting them,” Dr. Knudsen mentioned.

One subsequent step might to be study breast density over time in girls taking medicine to forestall breast most cancers to see if the density decreases, Dr. Knudsen prompt.

“There could be different risk stratification guidelines set up to monitor those who are having much slower decline in tissue density, versus those who are not,” Dr. Jiang mentioned.