What should you Know about Breast Density and Its job in the Diagnosis of Cancer

Approximately 35%-40% of women who suffer a diagnostic mammogram screening are detected as having dense breasts. Though density of breasts is not a disease in itself, it makes it hard to identify breast cancer.

Tomosynthesis is typically the first screening test done to spot out breast cancer with women and is as well known as tomo. This is again a non invasive test and in this low power X-rays of the breasts are taken to study the formation of the breast tissue. Any anomalies in the breast tissue structure turn out to be evident in the images produces by tomo and can be examined by a proficient radiologist. These abnormalities can be tagged as cancerous or non cancerous due to their properties.

However, if a woman has dense breast tissue then it becomes hard to differentiate between normal tissue and cancerous one. This is the reason that additional screening tests like MRI and ultrasound have to be done.

One of the screening tests done along with mammography is Magnetic resonance imaging. Breast MRI is as well used with a dissimilar agent in order to study the formation of the breast tissues and the blood flow. This is since cancerous tissues have unusual or increased blood flow. The contrast agent is injected intravenously into the patient prior to the imaging is done.

However, it is not sensible for women who are pregnant or have had a metallic implant like a pacemaker. In spite of this, MRI considerably increases the probability of detecting breast cancer in women when combined with mammography particularly in cases of high breast density.