Mammograms are less effective for women with dense breast tissue. Medical experts disagree on what to do about it
While it’s well known that dense breast tissue can make mammograms less effective, there’s not yet a clear protocol about how to handle this issue.
Millions of American women over age 40 receive regular mammograms to screen for breast cancer. About half of them turn out to have dense breast tissue — which makes screening significantly more complicated.
“It’s kind of a double whammy because dense breast tissue not only makes cancers harder to find, but people with denser tissue are more likely to get breast cancer,” said Laurie Margolies, a radiologist and vice chair for breast imaging at Mount Sinai in New York. (While people with dense breast tissue are at higher risk of breast cancer, their mortality risk is not higher than people with non-dense breasts, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)
What's Your Reaction?
