1. Breasts are made of fat and glands that make milk, held together by fibrous tissue. The more glands and fibrous tissue compared to fatty tissue that a woman has, the “denser” her breast tissue.
2. Many women have dense breasts. This is normal and common. In fact, nearly half (over 40%) of women over age 40 have dense breasts.
3. When radiologists look at mammograms, they can see how dense the breasts are. In these four mammogram images, the dense tissue appears as white. Categories A and B are “not dense” breasts. Categories C and D are “dense” breasts.
4. Dense tissue appears white on a mammogram, and so does cancer. This makes it harder for radiologists to see cancer in dense breasts. Because cancer can be missed, it is often found when larger and at a later stage in women with dense breasts.
5. Dense breasts are also a risk factor for breast cancer. A woman’s risk for breast cancer increases with the level of density in her breasts.
| I have dense breasts…now what? Dense breast tissue increases the risk of developing breast cancer and of having cancer missed on a mammogram. There are additional screening tests that can help find cancer that may be hidden on the mammogram. Talk with your health professional about these tests. |