Benign breast disease a risk factor in breast cancer

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

Doctors warn that certain kinds of benign breast disease may increase the risk of breast cancer.
Many breast lumps found by either manual examination or mammography turn out to be benign. However, according to experts at the Mayo Clinic, this does not mean there is no cancer risk, despite widespread assumptions.

The researchers looked at three types of benign breast lesion in a group of over 9,000 women who had had a biopsy. These were classified as non-proliferative, proliferative and atypical. There was no link between breast cancer and non-proliferative breast lesions as long as the woman did not have a strong family history of breast cancer. But proliferative and atypical breast lesions were linked to increased risk, even if the woman did not have a family history of breast cancer. Further studies are needed on how these lesions are linked to cancer. In the meantime, women diagnosed with these lesions should discuss the possible breast cancer link with their doctor.

Source
New England Journal of Medicine 21st July 2005

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