If you’ve been told that you have dense breasts, you might wonder what this means for your health. And if you’re a woman with breast implants, you might also question how this affects your mammograms and breast health.
Read on for what you need to know about these kinds of breast screenings.
Mammograms and Dense Breasts
Women’s breasts are composed of many different tissues, including fat, ligaments, glands and others. Dense breasts occur when a woman has a high ratio of ligaments and glands compared to fat in her breasts. If a woman has a high ratio of fat compared to everything else, the breasts are considered to be “fatty.”
Although sometimes associated with age, breast density is more commonly tied to genetics. It’s also more challenging to get clear mammography images for early diagnosis.
Think of it this way: If you look through a clear piece of glass, it’s easy to see what’s on the other side. This is equivalent to having a fatty breast. However, if you look through a frosted piece of glass, it’s hard to tell what lies behind it. This is what happens with dense breasts.
Cancer Risk and Detection with Dense Breasts
According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, women with dense breasts are four to five times more likely to develop breast cancer than those without dense breasts. That’s why the foundation has helped push new FDA rules designed to simplify medical language and improve guidance so patients with dense breasts know what it means — and how their screening experience may be different.
This new language in mammogram results letters is intended to help patients understand their health and encourage them to talk to their doctors about appropriate screenings.
Mammograms and Breast Implants
Implants can make imaging all of the breast tissue through a mammogram more challenging. Age and placement of the implant can cause some of the breast tissue to be obscured in the mammogram images.
Regardless of whether you have implants or not, mammograms are still the safest and most recommended breast cancer screening measure. But for the clearest look at what's going on, women with implants typically have eight mammogram images taken.
The mammogram technologist will take four images (two of each breast) as a standard mammogram, and then four additional pictures while gently manipulating the implant to image the breast tissue around it.
Support at Every Step
No matter what turns your breast health journey takes, we’re here with information, support and expertise.
This is why we want to make it easier for you to get your annual mammogram. If you are age 40 and over, have not had any breast symptoms, and have not had a mammogram in the last year, you do not need a physician’s order to get a screening mammogram. Learn more and schedule your mammogram today.
