Atypical Lobular Hyperplasia increases risk of breast cancer

Researchers in Tennessee who studied 7600 women who had a breast biopsy because they had detected a lump, found that women with a condition called atypical lobular hyperplasia went on to develop invasive breast cancer. Invasive breast cancer is a condition where cancer cells break through the duct and lobular wall and invade the surrounding fatty and connective tissues of the breast. Out of the 7600 studied, 264 who had atypical lobular hyperplasia went on to develop invasive breast cancer.

Researchers said that this new discovery indicated that those with the condition had a three times increased risk of cancer. It was also found that the cancer was more likely to develop in the breast where the hyperplasia had been detected. Researchers added that atypical lobular hyperplasia is more suggestive of a regional risk than a generalised one, contrary to earlier belief that cancer was equally likely to be found in either breast.