A new Norwegian study found that breast cancer tumours in younger women may grow faster.
A scientific research group from the Cancer Registry of Norway analyzed data from nearly 400,000 female breast cancer patients between the ages of 50 and 69. They found that tumours in younger women aged 50~59 took an average of 1.4 years to grow from 10~20 mm in diameter. In older women aged 60~69 years of age, tumours took an average of 2.1 years to grow the same size.
Overall, the research group found that tumour growth varied greatly among the study’s subjects. About one in 20 tumours doubled in size, from 10~20 mm, in about a month. Another one in 20 tumours took more than 6 years to grow the same size.
At the same time, the research group used mammography to evaluate the efficacy of mammograms to detect tumours.
They found that tumours were easier to detect the larger they got. Only 26% tumours that measured 5 mm were found by mammogram, while 91% tumours 10 mm in size were detected this way.
The research group said that studying tumour growth will allow health-care professionals to determine at what age and how often women should have mammograms. As well, scientists will be better able to design breast-cancer studies and clinical trials.
The study is published in BioMed Central’s open-access journal Breast Cancer Research.
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"Do breast cancer tumours grow faster in younger women?" was posted on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at 8:46 pm.