Reply:

Breast cancer is the abnormal growth of cells in the breast, creating malignant tumors that can invade and spread to distant places. Women get breast cancer more often than men.

There is no link between breast size and cancer risk. Women with large breasts are more likely to have back pain, shoulder pain, and spinal pain, but these are not risk factors for breast cancer. Large breasts make breast self-examination difficult, making it easier to miss lesions and abnormalities. On mammograms, dense breast tissue appears as a solid white area, making it difficult to detect breast lesions.

One of the major risk factors for breast cancer is dense breast tissue. Breast tissue is made up of milk glands, milk ducts, connective tissue, and fatty tissue. Women with dense breasts tend to have more connective tissue (fibrous tissue that supports other tissues in place) than fatty tissue. Women with denser breasts are 4-6 times more likely to develop breast cancer than other women.

In addition, other factors including gender (women), older age, family history, gene mutations such as BRCA1, BRCA2, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, alcohol consumption, early puberty, late menopause... are also related to breast cancer.

Obese postmenopausal women are more likely to develop this type of cancer because of the presence of an enzyme that converts androgen from the adrenal glands into estrogen. This enzyme is abundant in fat tissue. Estrogen plays an important role in the formation of breast cancer. Weight or body mass index (BMI) is a more important risk factor than breast size.

Regardless of breast size, women should have regular check-ups and mammograms as prescribed by their doctors. Maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, eating a healthy diet and living a healthy lifestyle will help improve overall health and reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Master Doctor Huynh Ba Tan
Department of Breast Surgery, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City