United States: Mammography will act as an anticipated notice to be made to the patients on the density of their breast which was recommended in early detection of breast cancer.
The change has been adopted as the recent amendments to the existing mammography rules stated by the U. S. Food and Drug Administration in 2016.
As reported by HealthDay, there are already similar laws in many states such as Colorado and Minnesota this is the first time the regulation goes nationwide. Here’s what to know.
What does dense breast tissue mean?
Maybe you have heard of breast density; breast density refers to how much fibro glandular tissue, there is in your breast as compared to fat, as defined by the American Cancer Society.
Dense breasts or dense breast tissue is also the way that some breasts may appear on a mammogram. On mammographies both mass and the tissue appear to be white in color. This is because the areas that contain higher percentage of tissues which mean the dense parts of the breast might not produce good images of tumors or other masses as those captured by standard mammograms.
Contrary to what is expected or perceived, breast thickness can never be estimated by a self-breast examination or clinical breast examination. This means that it does not rely on the texture or feel of your breast and doesn’t necessarily feel hard to distinguish between a normal breast and one that may be affected by cancer.
It is worth acknowledging that a lot of people are going to tell their doctor: ‘I know I have dense breasts because it feels like this to me’ Again, that was not the case, because we can only determine whether the breast tissue is dense or not as defined by the methods used by the professionals depending on how the breast tissue shows up on the mammogram.
What are the odds of having dense breast tissue?
Unfortunately, having dense breast tissue is quite normal these days, the National Cancer Institute says. It has been estimated that about 50% of the women over the age of 40 who underwent mammogram have been identified as having dense breasts. So the dense breast are more often inherited but can also influenced by using menopausal hormone therapy and having a low body mass index which is according to the Institute.
Having this particular type of tissue is linked to the higher risk of the developing breast cancer and since the denser the tissues also make it more difficult to spot signs of the cancer on a mammogram and making it even harder to diagnose the disease.