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Dense Breast Tissue: You Are In the Market For a Mammogram
What is the truth about diagnostic tests, breast cancer, and treatment?
Thanks to my business consulting work, which often serves healthcare industry businesses, including healthcare tech, I get a variety of U.S. and international health newsletters each day.
Yesterday, MedPage Today sent an article entitled, “Dense breasts raise breast cancer risk, but many women aren’t aware — here’s what to know.” That headline didn’t turn out to be a link to MedPage Today. This header was the #1 article in MedPage Today’s Sunday morning newsletter and it goes straight to … wait for it … NBC News. You know: the second clinical arm of the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins, or the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“I have dense breast tissue,” I thought.
How do I know this? Because when I went for my recommended mammogram in my early 40s, they couldn’t get a reliable image. The mammographer told me that I had dense breast tissue and might have to wait until I was older and my breast got more fat before the test would be effective in showing any breast cancer.
Of course, if I didn’t have breast cancer, it shouldn’t show that … right?
