Asymmetrical breasts might be cancer sign, says study

Women who have asymmetrical breasts are more likely to develop breast cancer, a study has revealed.

The findings, published in the journal Breast Cancer Research, were based on the mammograms of 504 women taken 27 years ago.

A study of the scans found that the odds of developing breast cancer grew by 1.5 with each 100ml increase in breast asymmetry.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool studied the mammograms of 252 women who did not have breast cancer at the time of the mammography but later developed the disease and compared them with the same number of mammograms of women who remained cancer-free.

The results showed that women who went on to develop cancer had a higher breast volume asymmetry than women who did not.

Dr Diane Scutt, who carried out the study, said the research showed that breast asymmetry was a significant independent predictor of breast cancer.

"While risk factors do have to be treated with an element of caution, we were very interested in the results.

"If women are in a high-risk category and they are found to have breast volume asymmetry, maybe this will alert people to monitor them more closely," Dr Scutt said.

She said more work was needed with a wider sample of women before the research could be applied in a clinical environment.

Dr Scutt stressed that most women have asymmetrical breasts to some degree and less than 1 per cent of the women studied had "perfect breasts".

- NZPA