Dense breast is a common problem found in women mostly. Dense breasts refer to the amount of
dense breast the tissue on a mammogram, in relation to the fatty tissue. Breast
density is important to recognize, because of the ability of mammography to
detect breast cancer and also, it can increase the risk factor for the patient
for developing future breast cancer.
Based on the age and BMI distribution of US women, we estimated that
27.6 million women aged 40 to 74 years in the United States have heterogeneously
or extremely dense breasts. A dense breast can lead to nothing
but breast cancer. According to U.S. Breast Cancer Statistics. About 1 in 8
U.S. women (about 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer throughout her
lifetime. In 2020, an estimated 276,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer are
expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 48,530 new cases of
non-invasive breast cancer.
These stats clearly describes, how much big problem the dense breast has
become. The dense breast can cause abnormalities in the breast, the cure for
the abnormalities is to consult a dense breast doctor. Though, annual breast
screening is recommended in women especially, from the age of 30 to 60, but
here are the symptoms which may indicate you to consult the dense breast
doctor: -
- Family
history of cancer
- Heavy-weight
- Feeling
swellings & irregular itching in the breast.
- Reaching
at the age of 30.
Your dense breast doctor will do several treatments with a motive to
find out the abnormalities of the breast. These are the dense breast
treatments, generally being done: -
Mammography
Breasts consist of two glands that are dense tissue and fatty tissues.
On Mammogram the Dense breast tissue looks white, while the fatty tissue looks
darker. Unfortunately, the cancerous tissue also looks white on the mammogram.
If the Breast density is low, doctors will easily find breast
cancer and cure it.
Breast MRI: Breast MRI is being used if the breast
density is high. It uses magnets that give a detailed image of the
breast and help the doctors finding out the location of the cancerous breast
tissues.
Breast ultrasound: In this treatment, ultrasound waves
are being used to have a detailed view of the breast which helps the doctor to
check the dense breast tissues.
3D mammography: Also known as Tomosynthesis, this
treatment is also known as modern mammography which is being used to have a 3D
view of the breast tissue.
Dense breast law
On 28th March 2019, for the interest of the patients, the FDA announced
its necessity for mammography facilities to include breast density information
in reports sent to patients and their physicians. DB-I has analyzed the
proposed language and submitted comments to the FDA during the designated “open
for public comment” period. DB-I comments are available. This law has been
created to safeguard the rights of patients and also to maintain transparency
during the treatment procedure.
So, these are all you need to
know about dense breast. I hope
you got some important information from this article, take care!