What Does It Mean to Have Dense Breast Tissue?

Half of all women have a condition known as “dense breasts.” You’re more likely to have dense breasts if you’re at a healthy body-mass index (BMI) than you are if you’re overweight or obese.

Dense breasts refer to the kind of tissue that predominates in your breast. Breasts that aren’t dense are mostly composed of fatty tissue and tend to be soft and easily imaged on mammograms. Dense breasts are composed mostly of glandular tissue.

At Mass Medical Imaging in Lake Forest, Illinois, our expert doctors Joseph Calandra, MD, and Karen Mass, MD, use your yearly mammogram to screen for breast cancer and to determine whether or not you have dense breasts. If your breasts are dense, we recommend a further dense breast evaluation.

Do you have dense breasts? Here’s what it means for you and your health.

Your provider must tell you about dense breasts

If you’ve already had a mammogram, you shouldn’t have to wonder whether or not you have dense breasts. In Illinois, medical practices are required to notify their patients by letter if they have dense breasts.

You can’t discover on your own whether or not you have dense breasts. They don’t feel or look significantly different from non-dense breasts. The only way to know for sure is to have a mammogram.

You may need more than one mammogram

If we determine that you have dense breasts, we may advise a dense breast evaluation, which may include a second mammogram. Dense breasts appear extremely light on an X-ray, which makes it difficult to distinguish cancerous tissue from healthy tissue.

In contrast, fatty breasts look dark on X-ray. This makes it easy to detect abnormalities, such as lumps, which appear whitish. 

To be sure that your dense breasts are cancer-free, we may need to take a closer look at certain areas of your breasts. That’s why we may order a second set of mammograms. Once we know that you have dense breasts, we recommend 3-D mammograms (aka, breast tomosynthesis), which are better able to distinguish abnormalities in dense breasts.

You may benefit from other tests, too

Even with a second mammogram or a 3-D mammogram, we may not be able to see as much of your breasts as we need to in order to determine whether you’re cancer free or not. In such cases, we may order further studies, such as:

Breast ultrasound 

A breast ultrasound uses sound waves to identify masses in dense breast tissue. We also use automated breast ultrasound (ABUS), which generates multiple images of your breast tissue. 

Breast MRI 

A breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study takes detailed pictures of your breasts. An MRI can find tiny cancerous tumors that wouldn’t be detected with other tools.

You have a slightly increased risk for cancer

Dense breasts are a risk factor for breast cancer. The increased risk is apart from the 

However, that doesn’t mean that you’ll get breast cancer. Your chances of the disease are amplified the more risk factors you have, such as:

• First menstrual period before age 12 
• Last menstrual period after age 55
• Inheriting BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations
• Personal history of breast cancer
• Personal history of other breast disease
• Family history of breast or ovarian cancer
• Exposure to the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES)
• History of radiation therapy to chest or breasts
• Age over 50

Breast density doesn’t negatively affect your chances of survival if you do have breast cancer. When breast cancer is caught early, before it’s spread, the five-year survival rate is 99%. Early detection is your best chance to beat breast cancer, which is why annual mammograms are so important.

You may lose density with age

As you age, your breasts tend to become less dense. You may find that you don’t need extra breast evaluations after menopause, just your yearly mammogram.

Do you have dense breasts, or do you need to schedule a mammogram? Reach us today by calling our friendly team or using our online appointment form.