時尚雙語:尺寸大更容易患乳癌？

Good question. And a question I am often asked.

Here's the scoop. Simply having breasts and being female places all women at risk. Women with size 32 AA bras get breast cancer just like someone with 46 DDs.

For women with known risk factors, though, there may be a link to breast size. One study confirmed that women who had breast-reduction surgery had asignificant reduction - as high as 50 percent in some patients - compared with large-breasted women who didn't have the procedure.

Does that mean that everyone with bodacious breasts should get a reduction? Probably not. The key is to know that the risk factors for breast cancer are not equal, and to find out if you have any of the more dangerous risk factors.

So now is a good time to remind you of those risk factors:

Having a first-degree relative (mother, sister) who had breast cancer, especially before she reached menopause

Having had a breast biopsy sometime in the past that revealed some atypical cells or lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS, abnormal cells in the milk-producing glands of the breast)

Not having had a baby before age 30

Starting menstruation younger than age 12

Not going through menopause until after age 55

Among these factors, the most dangerous in terms of significantly increasing your risk are having a family history of breast cancer and having a finding of atypical cells on a previous breast biopsy.

If you have some or all of these risk factors, will your insurance cover a breast reduction procedure, which the researchers say will reduce your breast cancer risk? Probably not, since insurance companies haven't yet caught up with the latest scientific discoveries.

But insurance companies usually will pay for the procedure if the doctor documents that you are experiencing back problems from carrying a heavier than usual load. The doctor should not, however, record that he's doing a breast reduction to reduce the risk of breast cancer-in that case the insurance firm might expect the surgeon to perform a much bigger reduction, like a mastectomy-and that's not what you were signing up for.

So, bottom line: If a woman has no risk factors, her risk of breast cancer is going to be the same regardless of her breast size.

But large-breasted women do face one other challenge: getting all that breast tissue imaged in a mammogram. Getting clear images of every portion of larger breasts may require more than just the customary 2 views per breast.

尺寸大更容易患乳癌？

好問題。一個我經常被問的問題。

這是我的獨家新聞：只要有乳房或者只要是女性都有患乳癌的風險。32AA罩杯和46DD罩杯的女性患乳癌的概率一樣。

然而，由於總所周知的因素（乳房大），胸部大小或許和患乳癌概率有聯繫。有研究表明，做過縮胸手術的女性患乳癌的概率——某些病人甚至下降50%——與未做縮胸手術的大胸脯女性相比小得多。

難道這意味着所有大胸部女性都得做縮胸手術？也許不必。關鍵是要明白那些導致女性患乳癌的因素其作用力是不均等的，而且還要找出你與哪些比較危險的因素扯上了關係。

明白了這以後，現在是提醒你主意這些危險因素的時候了：

·一級親緣關係（母親、姐妹）得過乳癌，特別是絕經期前得過

·過去做過乳房活檢發現了異常細胞或原位小葉癌（LCIS，乳腺內的異常細胞）

·30歲前未生育

·12歲前開始月經

·55歲還沒進入絕經期

在這些因素中，從增大患乳癌的概率來說，最危險的是家庭乳癌史和以前的乳房活檢中發現過異常細胞。

如果你有上面所說的部分或全部因素，就去爲縮胸手術投保？就因爲研究人員說縮胸可以降低患乳癌的風險？也許不必，因爲保險公司險種還沒跟上科學發現的步伐。

但是，如果醫生可以證明你由於胸前負擔太重而遭受背部問題，那麼保險公司通常會爲縮胸手術付錢。但是，醫生不應該記錄說他正在做一個縮胸手術以便降低病人患乳癌的風險，因爲在這種情況下，保險公司或許指望外科醫生做一個較爲徹底縮胸手術，比如乳房切除，而這顯然不在你和醫院的合同之內。

所以，底線是：如果一個女人沒有上面所說的那些風險因素，她患乳癌的風險與胸部大小沒有關係。

但是大胸部女人的確面臨其它麻煩：乳房X光全檢。相對與正常女人每個乳房2張X光片來說，大乳房女人可能需要更多的X光片。