mammogram Archives - The Silver Ink

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Women with high breast density are generally linked to an increased risk of breast cancer.

Doctors suggest that not all women with high breast tissue are at a high risk of breast cancer.

It is believed that high breast density is having a high risk of breast cancer, and it is also difficult to detect by screening tumors from X –rays.

Researchers have gathered the data to find out the level of cancer risk for women with dense breast tissue.

Researchers are from the University of California, San Francisco.

They found that the only 24 percent of women with breast that are extremely dense or which are dense throughout are at a high level of risk, only if they have additional level of risk factors including ethnicity, age or family health history of cancer.

Karla Kerlikowske at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center said, “Breast density should not be the sole criterion for deciding whether supplemental imaging is justified because not all women with dense breasts have high interval cancer rates.”

Around 45 percent of women have dense breast but it does not mean that they should go for extra tests such as ultrasound exams or MRI.

Kerlikowske said, “We found that for the vast majority of women undergoing mammography – including those with dense breasts but low five-year breast cancer risk – the chance of developing breast cancer within 12 months of a normal mammogram was low.”

Dense breast tissue on a mammogram should go for further testing has been in debate for some time.

22 US states have also put laws under which doctors who receive mammogram of dense breast should discuss about further screening tests with their patients.

Kerlikowske said, “You can’t do supplemental screening for 45 percent of the population.”

She added, “It’s just not realistic, neither from a time nor cost standpoint.”

The findings of the study suggest that the breast density should not be the sole criterion to make decisions about additional breast cancer screening.

It is found that mammogram which is considered one of the best tests to screen breast cancer is not as effective as once it was believed.

Mammogram is considered as the key test to screen breast cancer, but it is found that the test is not effective for everyone especially the ones who have heavy breast

10 percent of the women in U.S. have heavy breasts.

It is found that heavy breast have lot of connective and glandular tissue compared to the ones with low density breast making it difficult to track the tumor.

People with heavy breast should need additional screening to ascertain breast cancer risk.

Mammogram is basically an X-ray of the breast, and the screener will usually takes X-rays from different angles of each breast.

In dense breast there is possibility of tumor to blend into the tissue and making it difficult to detect it with mammogram.

There are other additional screening options are available which the person can opt to detect the breast cancer risk, but the main problem is that insurance cover only covers mammograms under preventive care, and additional screening tests are not covered under insurance.

Additional screening test would cost somewhere around $200 to $300 for one checkup.

Terri Mallioux, said she had to spend $275 out of her pocket to get a whole breast ultrasound, which spotted a small tumor, but tumor was not spotted in the mammogram test which she had before the ultrasound test. As the tumor was spotted early she got lumpectomy and 20 radiation sessions without going for chemotherapy.

Now Mallioux wants a legislation that would require screening center to inform women what their screening options are.

A report by the Annals of Internal Medicine last year found that additional ultrasound screening for women with heavy breast did not increase survival rates, but increased costs.

Women with high breast density are not at high risk of breast cancer

Mammogram is not effective in breast cancer detection for heavy breast women

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