http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050620/breast_print.htmlBreast 


Study Overturns Textbooks
Judy Skatssoon, ABC Science Online

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June 23, 2005- The first detailed modern study of the breasts of lactating
women has overturned what the textbooks have been saying for the past 150
years. 

The new finding also suggests that breast reduction surgery could pose a
greater risk to a woman's ability to breastfeed, a researcher says.

The study by a team from the University of Western Australia published in
the current issue of the Journal of Anatomy shows the lactating breast has
fewer milk ducts than once thought.

The ducts make up the network of 'canals' that carry milk to the nipples.

"What we found is that the duct structure is different to what has been
assumed," says co-author and expert in human lactation Peter Hartmann.

"There are fewer ducts leading to the nipple than assumed."

Hartmann said it was previously accepted that the breast contains 15 to 20
milk ducts.

But it's now revealed there is an average of nine milk ducts, with some
women having just four.

How about Surgery?

This raises concerns about breast reduction surgery, Hartmann said, where
there is already a 50 percent chance that accidental damage to the ducts
will impair a woman's ability to breastfeed.

"Surgeons say it doesn't matter if we cut a few ducts; it's no hassle
because there are 15 or 20," he said.

"[But] if you're thinking of breast surgery and if you want to breastfeed
and you've only got four ducts you're in trouble."

Hartmann said the new results mean plastic surgeons need to rethink the way
they approach breast reductions.

Hot Wax to High-Tech

The last time the structure of a lactating human breast was examined was in
1840 when breast anatomy pioneer Sir Astley Cooper poured hot wax down the
milk ducts of the breasts of cadavers.

The skin and tissue surrounding the wax-filled ducts were then eroded,
leaving a wax model of the duct system.

Since then there's been little scientific interest in the lactating breast,
which Hartmann says uses more energy when lactating than the brain does.

In contrast to Cooper's ingenious technique, University of Western Australia
sonographer Donna Ramsay, a co-author of the paper, carried out ultrasound
scans of the breasts of 21 lactating women.

The researchers could then measure the number of milk ducts and analyze the
proportion of fatty tissue, as opposed to glandular, or milk-producing
tissue.

They concluded that the proportion of glandular and fatty tissue, and the
number and size of ducts didn't affect milk production.

The findings also provide scientific evidence that large breasts don't
necessarily make for better breastfeeding, Hartmann says. 

Janet Hoover, LM, IBCLC
Lactation Consultant
Dominican Hospital
1555 Soquel Drive
Santa Cruz, CA 95065

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