Exiled Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has been diagnosed with breast tumours at a New York hospital where she went with cough and cold.

Doctors found the tumours "quite big" and advised her biopsy to check on possible malignancy.

The biopsy report is expected tomorrow, bdnews24.com reported today.

Taslima, 51, appears very worried, because her mother had died of cancer and a brother of hers is undergoing treatment for cancer in New York.

She has tweeted about her worries and said she had a sumptuous meal of Hyderabadi Biryani at a restaurant in New York immediately after her biopsy.

"Dear India, if I'm diagnosed w/ cancer tomorrow & if I die, pl take care of my cat Minu. She is the best cat in the world," she tweeted.

She arrived in New York a week ago to avoid the harsh Indian summer at this time of the year and enjoy the weather in New York.

But in her tweet she said: "Oh no man, I haven't come to the USA to enjoy weather, I have come to give lecture on 'women in secularism'."

Taslima is a doctor, having received her MBBS degree from Mymensingh Medical College in 1986.

Besides working as a doctor, she continued with her passion -- writing

After her novel 'Lajja' (Shame) hit the stands, she incurred the ire of the fundamentalists and had to leave Bangladesh in 1998.

She has lived in India and several western countries since then.