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？

好问题。一个我经常被问的问题。

这是我的独家新闻：只要有乳房或者只要是女性都有患乳癌的风险。32AA罩杯和46DD罩杯的女性患乳癌的概率一样。

然而，由于总所周知的因素（乳房大），胸部大小或许和患乳癌概率有联系。有研究表明，做过缩胸手术的女性患乳癌的概率——某些病人甚至下降50%——与未做缩胸手术的大胸脯女性相比小得多。

难道这意味着所有大胸部女性都得做缩胸手术？也许不必。关键是要明白那些导致女性患乳癌的因素其作用力是不均等的，而且还要找出你与哪些比较危险的因素扯上了关系。

明白了这以后，现在是提醒你主意这些危险因素的时候了：

·一级亲缘关系（母亲、姐妹）得过乳癌，特别是绝经期前得过

·过去做过乳房活检发现了异常细胞或原位小叶癌（LCIS，乳腺内的异常细胞）

·30岁前未生育

·12岁前开始月经

·55岁还没进入绝经期

在这些因素中，从增大患乳癌的概率来说，最危险的是家庭乳癌史和以前的乳房活检中发现过异常细胞。

如果你有上面所说的部分或全部因素，就去为缩胸手术投保？就因为研究人员说缩胸可以降低患乳癌的风险？也许不必，因为保险公司险种还没跟上科学发现的步伐。

但是，如果医生可以证明你由于胸前负担太重而遭受背部问题，那么保险公司通常会为缩胸手术付钱。但是，医生不应该记录说他正在做一个缩胸手术以便降低病人患乳癌的风险，因为在这种情况下，保险公司或许指望外科医生做一个较为彻底缩胸手术，比如乳房切除，而这显然不在你和医院的合同之内。

所以，底线是：如果一个女人没有上面所说的那些风险因素，她患乳癌的风险与胸部大小没有关系。

但是大胸部女人的确面临其它麻烦：乳房X光全检。相对与正常女人每个乳房2张X光片来说，大乳房女人可能需要更多的X光片。