Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
New research claims women with asymmetrical breasts could be more likely to develop breast cancer. A team from the University of Liverpool, England, compared mammograms of 252 women who went on to develop breast cancer with roughly the same number of women who remained healthy. The relative odds of getting cancer went up 50 per cent for each 100 millilitres increase in breast asymmetry. But the authors warned breast cancer risk depended on a number of factors. Humans, in common with most other vertebrates, tend to show bilateral symmetry - meaning that the two halves of the body are basically symmetrical. However, perfect symmetry may be disturbed by factors such as uneven secretion of hormones. Thus researchers believe that asymmetry is a sign that development of the body is not as stable as it might be. (ES/WNWCCB/SH)
(c) 2004 World Entertainment News Network
