sclerosing adenosis

Grammy2be

I have not gotten the official written report yet but sclerosing adenosis was the result of my biopsy. I read here that it can increase bc risk but in other places I have read there is no increase. Anyone have any info on this? I am 56 with moderately dense breasts, mom and maternal grandmother have had bc, but not until their early 60's at diagnosis. Thanks for any experience or info.

Moderators

Grammy2be, till you get responses from other members here, this article from our main site may be of help: Certain Breast Changes

Best,

The Mods

Grammy2be

Is focal adenosis different than sclerosing adenosis?

MelissaDallas

My biopsy was at an NCI facility and I was told if it was an increased risk it was a very negligible one. More an "aging breasts" kind of thing

Grammy2be

Thank you Melissa.

Grammy2be

I am not sure if it is adenosis or sclerosing adenosis or if there is any difference between the two. The radiologist told me sclerosing adenosis but my GP's office told me adenosis. I will be able to access my report on the patient portal today.

leaf

Sclerosing adenosis is when there is some fibrosis involved.

Different studies will give you different numbers. In this study Sclerosing adenosis (SA), found in ¼ of benign breast disease (BBD) biopsies, is a histological feature characterized by lobulocentric proliferation of acini and stromal fibrosis and confers a two-fold increase in breast cancer risk compared to women in the general population. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28798985

So LOTS of women have sclerosing adenosis (including me).

Now, you do need to understand something about breast cancer prediction. Relative risk is different than absolute risk. Two-fold risk is a relative risk.

Relative risk can be a tricky concept, because most people tend to focus on the reported percentage — e.g., 50% higher risk — which sounds alarming. Yes, a 50% higher risk of developing breast cancer (relative to people who don't drink) is significant, but it doesn't tell a woman what her lifetime risk is if she drinks two or more alcoholic drinks per day for the rest of her life. Since women in this group have 1.5 times the risk of developing breast cancer, it's necessary to multiply the absolute risk of breast cancer (12%) for women in the general population by relative risk (1.5):

• .12 x 1.5 = .18. This means that a woman's absolute lifetime risk of developing breast cancer if she drinks two or more alcoholic drinks per day is about 18%, versus 12% for women who do not drink.

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc...

Also, these numbers are for a GROUP of women with this characteristic (in this case drinking 2 or more alcoholic drinks per day). Its not for the INDIVIDUAL woman. We are a LOT less certain about the risk of an individual woman than a group of women (with the same risk factor). https://academic.oup.com/jnci/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jnci/djj501

Grammy2be

My report says adenosis with rare associated calcifications in a background of dense stromal fibrosis. So it is aka schlerosing adenosis? Thank you leaf for the info and links.

leaf

Sorry, I don't know. But I think it sounds plausible.

Grammy2be

Thanks leaf. Just trying to understand the terms so I know what is up in the future.