Benign Atypical Hyperplasia Not So Benign After All as it Carries High Breast Cancer Risk

Women with benign atypical growth of breast cells are not safe from breast cancer as previously thought.

A new study claims that the condition atypical hyperplasia increases the risk of developing breast cancer by 1 percent every year. Nearly 100,000 women in the US are diagnosed with the condition every year, reports Fox News. The study carried out by Mayo Clinic researchers involved 698 women whose biopsies between 1987 and 2001 showed they had the condition. Atypical hyperplasia causes uncontrolled growth of breast cells in abnormal patterns.

"By providing better risk prediction for this group, we can tailor a woman's clinical care to her individual level of risk. We need to do more for this population of women who are at higher risk, such as providing the option of MRI screenings in addition to mammograms and encouraging consideration of anti-estrogen therapies that could reduce their risk of developing cancer," said Lynn Hartmann the study's lead author in a news release.

Hartmann's team found that 7 percent of the women developed breast cancer five years after biopsy. The number increased to 13 percent after 10 years, and 30 percent after 25 years.

"Instead of relying on a statistical model, our study provides actual data of breast cancer cases that occurred in a population of women with atypia. These absolute risk data are preferable to a hypothetical model," said Amy Degnim, M.D., co-lead author and a breast surgeon at Mayo Clinic.

The findings of the study have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.