Talk with your doctor or nurse to learn what is recommended for you, based on your personal medical history and family medical history. The value of additional, or supplemental, imaging tests such as ultrasound or MRI to screen for breast cancer in women with dense breasts is not yet clear, according to the Recommendation Statement on Breast Cancer Screening by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). Updated FDA regulations will soon require mammography providers to inform women if they have dense breasts. Learn more about other risk factors for breast cancer as well as protective factors for breast cancer. This risk is separate from the effect of dense breasts on the ability to read a mammogram. That is, women with dense breasts have a higher risk of breast cancer than women with fatty breasts. However, dense breasts are a risk factor for breast cancer. Women with dense breasts may be called back for follow-up testing more often than women with fatty breasts.ĭense breasts are not considered an abnormal breast condition or a disease. That's because dense breast tissue and some abnormal breast changes, such as calcifications and tumors, both appear as white areas in the mammogram, whereas fatty tissue appears as dark areas.Īs a result, mammography is less sensitive in women with dense breasts-that is, it is more likely to miss cancer. Breasts are classified as “dense” if they fall in the heterogeneously dense (C) or extremely dense (D) categories.ĭense breasts can make a mammogram more difficult to interpret. Breasts can be almost entirely fatty (A), have scattered areas of dense fibroglandular breast tissue (B), have many areas of glandular and connective tissue (C), or be extremely dense (D). The four breast density categories are shown in this image. If your mammogram report letter says you have dense breasts, it means that you have either heterogeneously dense breast tissue or extremely dense breast tissue. Extremely dense breast tissue: There is almost all dense glandular and fibrous connective tissue.Heterogeneously dense breast tissue: There are many areas of dense glandular and fibrous connective tissue, with some areas of fatty tissue. ![]() Scattered fibroglandular breast tissue: There is mostly fatty tissue with some areas of dense glandular and fibrous connective tissue.Entirely fatty breast tissue: There is almost all fatty breast tissue.BI-RADS classifies breast density into four categories: Doctors who review mammograms are called radiologists. This system, developed by the American College of Radiology, helps doctors interpret and report back mammogram findings. Dense breasts are sometimes called mammographically dense breasts.ĭoctors use the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) to classify breast density. Only a radiologist looking at a mammogram can tell if a woman has dense breasts. ![]() ![]()
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