Dense breasts on a mammogram? What to know and do

You’re staring at a letter from your mammography facility. Your breast exam was normal, great. But then you see a note on the bottom: you have high breast density, which could put you at higher risk for breast cancer in the future. Now what? “The finding of dense breasts on a mammogram can be stressful and confusing for patients,” says Dr. Toni Golen, acting editor in chief of Harvard Women’s Health Watch. It’s information that may concern them, but they don’t know what to do about it. What is breast density? Breasts are composed of: lobules, which produce milk ducts, tubes that carry milk to the nipple fatty tissue, similar to fat in other parts of your body fibrous connective tissue, which gives the breast its characteristic shape. Dense breasts have more active tissues — lobules, ducts — and less fat. The only way to tell if you have high breast density is by having a mammogram. Dense breasts don’t feel or look any different from breasts that have a larger proportion of fatty tissue. Density is typically gauged by the radiologist who reads the mammograms. It is classified on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the least dense and 4 being the most. Women who score a 3 or a 4 are typically said to have high density. Breast density often changes over time. Younger women typically have higher density than older women, and density typically declines after menopause. But this is not always the case. Some older women still have dense breast...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Breast Cancer Health Tests and procedures Women's Health Source Type: blogs