Breast density linked to cancer recurrence

Breast cancer affects over 45,000 people a year in the UK, and though 80 per cent of sufferers survive beyond five years, the disease often returns later in life.

For years the recurrence of the disease and why it happens has been investigated by healthcare experts, and now it seems that light has been shed on the subject.

Specialists at the American Cancer Society claim that women with denser breasts are more susceptible to breast cancer returning after the disease has been cleared.

In a new report published in the organisation's journal Cancer, experts tell cancer cover holders that there may be evidence for women with denser breasts to be given additional therapy.

Researchers led by Dr Steven Narod, from the Women's College Research Institute in Toronto, have found that women who have surgery for breast cancer should be advised to have radiation therapy after the operation to prevent recurrence.

For the study, experts reviewed the medical records of 335 patients who had undergone a lumpectomy for breast cancer and monitored them for cancer recurrence, comparing it with breast density as seen on a mammogram, which is classed as low, medium or high.

Over ten years, researchers found that women in the highest breast density category had a 21 per cent chance of cancer recurrence, compared with a just a five per cent risk among those in the lowest category.

Dr Narod told cancer insurance customers that findings indicate women with low breast density, who have a low chance of recurrence after surgery, may not need radiation, but that those with high breast density could significantly benefit from the additional therapy.

He concluded: "The composition of the breast tissue surrounding the breast cancer is important in predicting whether or not a breast cancer will return after surgery."

By James McCann

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