Breast Cancer Archive

Although a clinical trial showed daily aspirin use didn't help women with breast cancer avoid recurrence or improve survival, other evidence-backed measures might. Exercise, weight control, and a healthy diet are linked with lower recurrence and longer survival, but alcohol use, smoking, and supplement use are not. While it's not always clear how lifestyle approaches help lower the odds of recurrence or death from breast cancer, healthy measures can improve women's ability to keep other conditions at bay or manage them more effectively.

A 2024 study found that in women who had a breast cancer diagnosis in only one breast, the odds of dying from breast cancer didn't change if they had the other breast removed as a precaution.

Breast enlargement can be common in men. The two primary reasons are excess weight and gynecomastia, a condition that causes the breast's glandular tissues to grow.

Artificial intelligence, or A.I., has been used in women's health care for decades. A.I. helps detect and track breast cancer, endometriosis, fibroids, cervical precancers, and other conditions. A.I.-driven mammography software may reveal more breast cancers than radiologists detect alone. A.I. may soon streamline women's breast cancer risk assessment scores to aid screening. Experts once predicted that A.I. would replace radiologists, but that hasn't happened and isn't likely, according to Harvard specialists.

Studies on alcohol's health effects have shown conflicting results, Harvard experts say, leaving people confused. No randomized, controlled trials have been performed, and observational studies can't easily tease apart drinking and other lifestyle habits that influence health, such as exercise, sleep, and social connectedness. However, drinking alcohol has been convincingly linked to developing breast cancer, so women concerned about their breast cancer risk should consider reducing or eliminating alcohol. For most other healthy people who enjoy an occasional drink, they can continue to do so.