A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that tiny breast lesions made visible through biopsy exams may be a predictor of women’s future risk for breast cancer. Approximately 1 million women undergo biopsies each year.
Doctors at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital studied about 1,400 women over 12 years and found that women’s risk for breast cancer is almost twice as great among women with radial scars. They also found evidence that risk for cancer increases as the number and size of breast lesions increases.
Researchers have no explanation for why the lesions may cause cancer, but urge doctors to use their findings to improve early diagnosis of the disease.