A new study shows that women with an early form of breast cancer are at a higher risk for the recurrence if their breast tissue appears to be dense on mammograms.

The study also shows the risk of recurrence is more prominent in the other breast. The new findings are published in the October 7 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention.

"Breast density is among the strongest risk factors for breast cancer, like family history," says study researcher Laurel A. Habel, PhD, research scientist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif.

A study was conducted involving 935 women with an early type of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated with breast-conserving surgery, women with denser breast during the screening mammogram were twice as likely to have a secondary breast cancer.

This risk was almost three times higher for developing a secondary breast cancer in the opposite breast as per the study results.

Many doctors ignore the density while reading a mammography result concentrating only on words such as normal and abnormal.