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(gè)我經(jīng)常被問的問題。

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

然而，由于總所周知的因素（乳房大），胸部大小或許和患乳癌概率有聯(lián)系。有研究表明，做過縮胸手術(shù)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(shù)的大胸脯女性相比小得多。

難道這意味著所有大胸部女性都得做縮胸手術(shù)？也許不必。關(guān)鍵是要明白那些導(dǎo)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(xiǎn)的因素扯上了關(guān)系。

明白了這以后，現(xiàn)在是提醒你主意這些危險(xiǎn)因素的時(shí)候了：

·一級(jí)親緣關(guān)系（母親、姐妹）得過乳癌，特別是絕經(jīng)期前得過

·過去做過乳房活檢發(fā)現(xiàn)了異常細(xì)胞或原位小葉癌（LCIS，乳腺內(nèi)的異常細(xì)胞）

·30歲前未生育

·12歲前開始月經(jīng)

·55歲還沒進(jìn)入絕經(jīng)期

在這些因素中，從增大患乳癌的概率來(lái)說(shuō)，最危險(xiǎn)的是家庭乳癌史和以前的乳房活檢中發(fā)現(xiàn)過異常細(xì)胞。

如果你有上面所說(shuō)的部分或全部因素，就去為縮胸手術(shù)投保？就因?yàn)檠芯咳藛T說(shuō)縮胸可以降低患乳癌的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)？也許不必，因?yàn)楸ｋU(xiǎn)公司險(xiǎn)種還沒跟上科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)的步伐。

但是，如果醫(yī)生可以證明你由于胸前負(fù)擔(dān)太重而遭受背部問題，那么保險(xiǎn)公司通常會(huì)為縮胸手術(shù)付錢。但是，醫(yī)生不應(yīng)該記錄說(shuō)他正在做一個(gè)縮胸手術(shù)以便降低病人患乳癌的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)，因?yàn)樵谶@種情況下，保險(xiǎn)公司或許指望外科醫(yī)生做一個(gè)較為徹底縮胸手術(shù)，比如乳房切除，而這顯然不在你和醫(yī)院的合同之內(nèi)。

所以，底線是：如果一個(gè)女人沒有上面所說(shuō)的那些風(fēng)險(xiǎn)因素，她患乳癌的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)與胸部大小沒有關(guān)系。

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