Having dense breasts slightly increases your overall risk of getting breast cancer. Dense breasts also make it more difficult for doctors to spot cancer on mammograms. Dense tissue appears white on a mammogram. Lumps, both benign and cancerous, also appear white. So, mammograms can be less accurate in women with dense breasts.
In dense breasts, cancer can be hard to see on a mammogram. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and to a lesser extent ultrasound, can find breast cancers that can’t be seen on a mammogram. However, MRI and ultrasound may show findings that are not cancer, which can result in added testing and unnecessary biopsies.
After consultation with your doctor, additional screening tests such as breast MRI and screening breast ultrasound, in addition to your annual mammogram, may be appropriate.
Whether your breasts are dense or not, other factors may still place you at increased risk for breast cancer, including a family history of the disease, previous chest radiation treatment for cancer and previous breast biopsies that show you are at high risk.
At Atlantic Medical Imaging, we perform a comprehensive breast cancer risk analysis on all mammography patients and report the results to your doctor.
If you are in the highest risk category we will notify you directly and may recommend a breast MRI. Talk to your doctor, discuss your history and what additional exams may be right for you.
Even if you are at low risk, and have entirely fatty breasts, you should still get an annual mammogram starting at age 40.
For more information about the breast imaging program
at Atlantic Medical Imaging, please visit: women.myamihealth.com
