Atypical Hyperplasia Increases Risk of Breast Cancer in Younger Women
Reported January 04, 2009
Women under the age of 50 who have atypical hyperplasia of the breast are nearly seven times more likely to develop breast cancer than women in the general population, irrespective of family history. These results were presented at the 2008 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.
Studies have suggested that risk of breast cancer is higher among women with particular types of benign breast disease; however the risks among varying benign diagnoses have not been well defined. The importance of establishing specific risks is to gain understanding of how best to monitor these women so that breast cancer may be detected and treated in its earliest stages while minimizing false-positives and over-screening.
To explore the relationship between benign breast disease and breast cancer among women under the age of 50, researchers at the Mayo Clinic evaluated information from more than 4,000 women with benign breast disease. Two percent had been diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia, 26% had been diagnosed with proliferative disease without atypia, and 72% had been diagnosed with non-proliferative disease. Data from these women was compared with data derived from the NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.
During 20 years of follow-up, 326 of the women were diagnosed with breast cancer. Compared with women in the general population, the risk ratio for the development of breast cancer among women diagnosed with benign breast disease was 1.2 for nonproliferative diseaes, 2.02 for proliferative disease without atypia, and 6.92 for atypical hyperplasia (P=0.001). Ipsilateral breast cancer represented 65% of breast cancer diagnoses within the first five years, whereas contralateral breast cancer represented 52% of breast cancer at five or more years of follow-up. (P=0.03). Increased involution resulted in significant reductions in breast cancer risk among all three histologies.
This study confirms previous reports of an elevated risk of breast cancer among women with benign breast disease, irrespective of family history, with the greatest risk being among women diagnosed with atypical hyperplasia.
Reference: Ghosh K, Pankratz VS, Reynolds CA et al. Benign breast disease and breast cancer risk in young women. Presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. December 13, 2008. Abstract 62.
Source : OncoEd.com