Breast density and breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women, from Harvard Women’s Health Watch
Using data from the Nurses’ Health Study, Harvard researchers found that the link between breast density and breast cancer was stronger for cancer confined to the ducts and lobules (in situ tumors) than for invasive cancer. But it was also stronger for certain breast cancers associated with poorer outcomes, including larger tumors, high-grade tumors, and estrogen receptor–negative tumors (which are more likely to grow and spread than estrogen receptor–positive tumors).
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