Two drinks a day increases risk of breast cancer, study shows.

2004 MAR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- "Alcohol consumption is one of the best established risk factors for breast cancer development," says epidemiologist Joann Dorgan, PhD, of Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Dorgan provides the expert commentary on a new study by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington. The study, involving almost 2,000 women, found that those who drank two or more drinks per day had more than three times the risk of lobular cancer (a 330% increased risk) and a 50% increased risk of ductal cancer compared to nondrinkers.

This is one of the few studies to look at the link between alcohol consumption and specific types of breast cancer.

The finding that drinkers had a higher incidence of estrogen- and progesterone-receptor-positive tumors suggests that alcohol may increase breast cancer risk by increasing estrogen levels in the blood.

In addition, a survey of practice in five comprehensive cancer centers finds that sentinel node biopsy is being used increasingly as an alternative to axillary lymph node dissection in the treatment of breast cancer, especially for patients with small tumors who receive breast-conserving surgery.

"The large majority of breast cancer specialists in Westernized countries are using SNB in place of AND. They have been doing so for years," said principal researcher, Stephen Edge, MD, chairman of the department of breast and soft tissue surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, ...