Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Breast Density Improvement and Impact on Breast Cancer Risk in Severe Obese Patients

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the US, and obese women have a 20% to 40% increase in the risk of developing breast cancer compared with normal-weight women. Bariatric surgery is now considered the first line option for weight loss management in morbidly obese patients with failure of medical treatment. There is strong evidence that in early stages of cancer the breast undergoes inflammatory and subsequently density changes that are observable in mammography. The aforementioned alterations have been suggested to be magnified by obesity, potentially due to its pro-inflammatory state. The investigators hypothesized that rapid weight loss following bariatric surgery and henceforth the reduction of inflammatory stress in the breast tissue could potentially have a positive effect in improving breast density and consequently, reducing the risk of breast cancer. In this order of ideas, with this study, the investigators aim to evaluate how breast density is modified after bariatric surgery, and how it impacts the risk of developing breast cancer using The Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium (BCSC) risk score and calculator in our population.