Dense breast tissue

Dense breast tissue refers to the appearance of breast tissue on a mammogram. It's a normal and common finding. Breast tissue is composed of milk glands, milk ducts and supportive tissue (dense breast tissue), and fatty tissue (non-dense breast tissue). When viewed on a mammogram, women with dense breasts have more dense tissue than fatty tissue.

Overview

Dense breast tissue is detected on a mammogram. A mammogram is an X-ray image of your breasts used to screen for breast cancer. Dense breast tissue appears as a solid white area on a mammogram, and fat appears as a dark area.

Significance

Dense breast tissue can make it harder to evaluate the results of your mammogram and may also be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. However, this doesn't mean you have breast cancer. Dense breast tissue is common and normal.

Risk Factors

Some factors can affect the likelihood of having dense breasts. For example, younger women are more likely to have dense breasts than older women. Also, women who take hormone therapy for menopause are more likely to have dense breasts.

Breast Cancer Screening

If you have dense breasts, you might wonder what this means for your breast cancer risk. Studies show that dense breasts increase your risk of breast cancer. Still, dense breasts are common and not abnormal. However, having dense breasts does make it more difficult for doctors to spot cancer on mammograms.

See Also

• Mammogram
• Breast Cancer
• Hormone Therapy

References

• Breast Cancer Risk Factors
• Breast Cancer Screening

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