Dense breast follow up imagining after cancer treatment

I don't know what classify's somebody as having dense tissue. Back in my 30's, I had a papilloma and had it removed. During the surgery, the surgeon commented I had the most fibrous breast he had ever seen. I admit, I did not have mammograms for the next many years, probably more than 20, but had one in May of 2014. I mentioned I had been told I had dense tissue and they said well, no so much now, that changes as you get older. That mammogram was done in Kentucky where there are no laws to notify of dense tissue but since I in fact had cancer and went to Tennessee for treatment, I had more mammograms there and eventually a mastectomy, after ultrasound and MRI. At any rate, I received a letter after mammogram there telling me I had dense tissue and by Tennessee law, they were required to notify me of that information. So, seems to vary depending on where you are, not who you are. Guess I'll find out because I still have one natural breast that will require ongoing watch so we'll see if they do MRI or mammogram only but my treatment will continue in TN because I chose to go to a breast center rather than deal with general surgeons and oncologist that treat all kinds of cancer.

I was told in my 20s that I had dense breasts. Fast forward a few decades and all the literature says again and again that they thin out with age, post-menopause, etc., so I figured that was the case and gave it no more thought.

It turns out that mine were still fairly dense (a risk factor for bc as well as an impediment to obtaining a good mammograpgic image). My MD had report after report that she NEVER shared with me that mentioned the density. I fully support laws requiring that women be informed of the density status of their breasts; it is OUR tissue after all.

And yes, there does seem to be a fairly well agreed upon system of describing the density of the glands.

RRS - I agree. If you're willing to pay for it and there's no risk (i.e., no additional large doses of radiation) you should be able to get the test. (Both are pretty spendy, based on what my insurance EOBs show.)

The question of what the differences in what they detect would be is one I can't answer but I think it does need and deserve an answer.

You might go to the Johns Hopkins "Ask an Expert" site and see if you can get an answer there.

MRI apparently has an advantage over US in distinguishing scar tissue vs recurrent cancer (see, eg., the Common Uses section at http://www.radiologyinfo.org/mobile/en/info.cfm?pg...).

I recall my GP telling me that US is the best type of imaging to distinguish fluid-filled cysts from solid masses, and mammograms are the best for detecting calcifications.