How Do I Know if I Have Dense Breasts?
Our breast care team has access to the latest state-of-the-art technology, like 3DMammography™ and Volpara™, to better assess your breast density and ensure each image in your mammogram is of the highest quality possible. If a recent mammogram showed you have “dense breasts,” don’t worry. It’s normal and fairly common. In fact, it is estimated that 40–50% of women between 40 and 70 years old have dense breasts.
What Is Breast Density?
Breasts are primarily made up of fat and fibroglandular tissue. The more fibroglandular tissue you have compared to fat, the denser your breasts and the whiter your mammogram will look. Dense tissue and many cancers appear white on a mammogram.
A description of your breast density is included in your mammography report read by our radiologists. They use a reporting system called BI-RADS to identify the level of density. The levels are:
Breast density is a risk factor for developing breast cancer. It also plays a significant role in radiologists’ ability to detect breast cancer because it can make spotting cancer more difficult.
Breast density is subjectively measured based on a visual assessment of a mammogram. The radiologist looks at the mammogram and decides how dense your breasts appear to them and assigns one of four categories, shown above. This can lead to inconsistency.