Dense Breasts

It amazes me that in the world of today's technological advances, that mammography is still the gold standard.  

Hi Lago - My oncologist finally got "approval" from the head of imaging for me to get an MRI at my next 6-month follow-up.  But I bet this will be a repeat next year.  So I am planning to make an appointment with your oncologist for a second opinion.  I will probably need to switch doctors/hospitals since someone has the submit the order for the scan.

While I was told that I had "very dense" breasts (I now know they are >75%), which made reading mammograms and ultrasounds more difficult, I was never told this also put me at higher risk of breast cancer. I am 51 and have moderately large breasts (C/D cup).

Talk about being a sitting duck while having diagnostic mammograms since my first mammogram in 2006! After my first mammogram I had an ultrasound of my right breast, then continued to go back for diagnostic mammograms. Found the lump in my right breast this past November, about 6 months after a diagnostic mammogram apparently was "fine".

Was diagnosed with IDC in December. Had surgery in January and the cancer has spread to my lymph nodes with extranodal extension. The surgeon told me I can expect to have more surgery, plus chemo, radiation, herceptin therapy, etc. Will see an oncologist in about a week.

I am so ANGRY no one told me about the higher risk of cancer with very dense breasts, or suggested an MRI (I had an MRI just before surgery that found a second suspected malignancy, which was removed, and a third, less suspicious, area of concern that will be investigated shortly). The anger is undoubtedly putting more stress on my body, so I better get a grip (hard enough dealing with fear and sadness). I'm now getting copies of everything and will ask for copies of my earlier mammograms to see what they actually said.

UGH is right. 

HI Ladies- I too was told I have very dense breasts, size B- so not huge, not too small.  I did however , know since I was young that my dense breast tissues  impacted ability to see and find cancer. My tumor was a bit over 2cm, and found in my mamogram, but my office as and uses computer aided detection on women with dense breasts.  This helped them to find it. I don't believe the human eye can easily find it in the white snow image that dense breasts shows on mamo.

CAD should be recommended for everyone like us. 

You know, I am not sure.  I recall the amount of dense tissue being high,I will go try and find my Mamo reports and send you a note when I do. I am certain I have those copies filed somewhere. Mine was 2cm as well, but I did skip mamo's for 3 years. I erronously thought I was safe as I had 11 years of clear mamos from 30 years old to 31 and no family history.  I think they need to change the advertising. 90% of all BC cases found each year are from people with no family history, only 10% of new cases each are are people with family history. .. I thought I was safe and didnt go.  I wonder if the CAD would have found it earlier before it got larger.  I'll never know now.  anyway - I will get back to you once I find the report.

Bevin, it may not tell you on your report.   I had to ask my radiologist.   There are 4 grades. 

Just found this thread. I had dense breasts too. I had a "mass" which was detected on mammogram, but here is the clincher: It was only detected because when they reviewed it against my mammo from the year prior, they noticed a "subtle architectural distortion" and suggested US because I have family history.

Had I not had family history, they might have just had me wait another year. 

The bottom line: mammograms really *are* very helpful. But it is vitally important that they be reviewed against prior years to see if there are any differences. So always request a copy of your complete mammogram report (not just the page that says everything is 'OK') and read it very thoroughly. There is often language in there that can alert you to potential problems. I cannot stress enough how important it is to read these reports.

Yes Yes a Thousand times Yes, and it was true...my cancer was there for at least 5 years, never showed up on any test, ever, had a hunch to remove a lump, and BRAVO! Cancer...

Add me to the list.  I had dense breasts - had 6 "clean mammos.  I lost weight last summer when I noticede the dimple in Nov 10.  Figured I just had a mammo in Feb so it must be nothing - waited for my well woman exam in Feb 11 before showing to my dr.  She freaked out and sent me immediately for a mammo - big surprise - still showed nothing.  Then ultra sound came in to the picture.  Ummm, how come I never had sonos before?  I had very dense larger breasts "D" - not a soul said a word to me about not being able to see everything.  Had a false sense of protection.  Tumor was 2.5 cm.  Had an MRI and guess what?  oh yes - another tumor found in opposite breast 9mm - stage 1.  In summary- mammos every year - I find lump - further testing shows multi focal 2.5 with 5mm satellites in right and 9mm cancer in left breast.  MAMMOGRAM NEVER SHOWED A DANG THING!

I underwent a mammogram on 3/25/2011, and was told that nothing was detected. I felt a lump prior to the mammogram....but kept pressing the issue with my hemotologist/oncologist. He sent me on to a breast surgeon for an ultrasound. I was diagnosed on 4/19/2011, and was told by my breast surgeon that in younger (pre-menopausal) women, the breast tissue is really dense and abnormalities are hard to detect on regular mammogram.

Dense breasts don't always go with age.  Some older post menopausal women also have dense breasts.  Many younger women don't have dense breasts.  The only way to know is to see them in a mammogram.  I had dense breasts at age 20 when I had a benign biopsy and still have extremely dense breasts at age 53.

That would be me!  My 2 tumors were never seen on a mammo (IDC).  Only 1 tumor was seen on the ultra sound and MRI.  Wasn;t until lumpectomy we learned I had a 1.7cm AND a 1.4cm tumor.  Mammos are out for me.  Only ultra sound and MRI from now on.  Thank goodness for the clip, the radiologist had a hard time finding the tumor without it, let alone getting that wire through the tissue for the lumpectomy. 

Unfortunately, as I aged, my breast tissue became even more dense and proliferative.  My BS told me I had "busy breasts" after I had a stereotactice breast biopsy 5 years ago on the Left breast.  I was always told my breast tissue was dense, and more challenging to read.  But I don't recall them ever saying that I was at greater risk because of it.  Knowing this.....even happier that I did the BMX

Another "dense breast" victim here. DH is really angry about my supposed "negative" mammogram 6 months prior to diagnosis. As we now know, the cancer was pretty big and was missed. I am angry because the radiologist's report was not shared with me and specifically, said that the "accuracy of mammography is reduced" because of having "heterogeneously dense breasts." This also was not shared with my OB-GYN. If it had been shared, I would have done more research and pushed for an MRI and an U/S. Also, I did not know that I had dense breasts at age 40, after having 2 children and breast-feeding. I knew they were dense at age 20. And NO ONE ever said that dense breasts put me at increased risk. These issues are all medical negligence, in my opinion. I see several doctors a year, since age 18, for check-ups. I know that things happen and medicine is certainly not an exact science. But, my BC should have been caught MUCH sooner.



Bottom line: the MRI is the gold-standard for me. It revealed a larger area than the U/S did. It was much more accurate and specific in my case. But, it's expensive and insurance doesn't usually want to pay, unless there is a BC diagnosis. How stupid is that?

My BS went back and looked at all my MRIs and determined that my cancer was clearly seen on MRI.  Based on this, she felt that we would be able to follow the other breast with MRIs.  She agreed that these would be the standard for me.  Bassed on this I did not do at BM.