If you have any concerns about your breast density or your risk of breast cancer, talk with your health care provider. However, your health care provider may suggest other breast imaging in addition to regular mammograms. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates mammography centers, is developing regulations for notification.Īlthough this may seem helpful, there are no special screening guidelines for women with dense breasts. Congress passed national breast density legislation. have laws requiring health care providers to notify (send a letter to) women found to have dense breasts on a mammogram. However, your health care provider may suggest other types of breast imaging in addition to regular mammograms. There are no special recommendations or breast cancer screening guidelines for women with dense breasts. Screening tools are under study for women with dense breasts. Screening tests under study for women with dense breastsĭense breast tissue can make abnormal findings hard to see on a mammogram. Learn more about breast density and breast cancer risk. However, breast density does not appear to be related to breast cancer survival. Women with dense breasts (as seen on a mammogram) have a somewhat higher risk of breast cancer than women with fatty breasts. MHT is also called postmenopausal hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Images used with permission of the American College of Radiology ( Breast density after menopauseīreast density may decrease after menopause in both women who go through natural menopause and younger women who are in menopause after surgery to remove the ovaries (oophorectomy).įor women who use menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), breast density may not decrease until they stop using MHT. Some breasts are mostly fat (fatty breasts), and some breasts are mostly breast tissue (dense breasts). The mammograms below show a range of breast density. Younger women tend to have dense breast tissue, so their mammograms can be harder to read than the mammograms of older women.Īfter menopause, breast density may decrease, making mammograms easier to read.
This can make abnormal findings on a mammogram hard to see. Dense breast tissueĭense breast tissue can look light gray or white on a mammogram. Fat looks dark gray on an X-ray.īreast cancer and some benign breast conditions are denser than fat and appear a lighter shade of gray or white on a mammogram. Very dense tissue, like bone, shows up as white on an X-ray. Like other X-ray images, mammograms appear in shades of black, gray and white, depending on the density of the tissue ( see images below). Mammography uses X-rays to create images of the breast.
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