“When I as a breast imaging radiologist describe a patient as having dense breasts, what I mean is that her mammogram looks white to me,” Smetherman says. “Cancers will also look white, so looking for something white on a background of white is more difficult to identify.” Fatty tiss...
About half of American women over the age of 40 are considered tohave dense breasts— and having this type of tissue is linked to a higher risk of developing breast cancer, although experts are not sure why. Denser tissues also make it more difficult to spot signs of cancer on a mammogra...
While it is recommended that all women get mammograms starting at age 40, some women with dense breasts may benefit fromadditional imaging options for breast exams, such as ultrasounds or MRIs. Breast cancer survivor JoAnn Pushkin, 64, has advocated for more than a decade that there be a nat...
However, mammograms are not perfect, and it can be difficult to detect any abnormalities in people with dense breasts. A mammogram will look different for everyone, and there is no standard normal or abnormal image. Areas that appear white on a mammogram may need follow-up tests but are not...
摘要: The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native stresses education and patient-related research and has been active in both areas since joining Mayo Clinic. She is the primary investigator at Mayo Clinic of several clinical trials evaluating new agents for the prevention of breast cancer...
The best time to schedule a mammogram is one week following your menstrual period when the breasts aren’t as tender. Try to schedule at the same facility every year so the prior mammograms can be compared to the current one for a more comprehensive assessment. ...
Dealing with dense breasts and other abnormal mammogram findingsKotz, Deborah
The quality of a woman'sbreast. Mammograms aren't good at detecting cancers in breast tissue that is dense or fibrous, as is common among female athletes and premenopausal women. The pace of medicine. With radiologists under pressure to read more films more quickly, the risk of making mistake...
Since tumors also appear white, dense tissue makes finding growths "like looking for a snowball in a blizzard," she says. About 40% of women ages 40 to 74 have dense breasts, and for the 10% of women with breasts in the densest category, the risk of breast cancer is double that of...
You may be at higher risk for many reasons, including a family history of breast cancer, a genetic mutation that can increase your risk (such as the BRCA1, BRCA2, or PALB2 gene), or a history of chest radiation therapy before age 30. Why do dense breasts matter when having a ...