A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Liverpool in England finds that women with asymmetrical breasts have a greater chance of developing breast cancer than women whose breasts are the same size. The greater the size disparity between the breasts, the greater the risk.
The results of the study were published in the medical journal "Breast Cancer Research."
The study examined the mammograms of 252 women who later developed breast cancer and of a like number of women who remained healthy.
The human body is built for symmetry although most women have a small difference in breast size. A large difference in the size of a person's breasts may indicate some other kind of problem such as a hormone imbalance inside the body.
"We don't want to be alarmist — you can never see this in isolation. You have to see it in light of a woman's total risk profile," explained lead researcher Dr. Diane Scutt.
The differences found in the study were significant. For each 100 milliliters in size difference between breasts, the risk of cancer went up 50 percent. The average woman's breast size is approximately 500 milliliters.
Dr. Scutt admitted additional research was needed in this area. "I think we want to do more work to find how practically we can turn this into something meaningful," she said.
A study of 13,000 women who were all healthy at the beginning of the project has begun. It will allow researchers to follow the progress of breast cancer of the next 27 years.
For now, those women with large size disparity between their breasts should be take extra care to be examined for possible cases of breast cancer.
