Looking for a snowball in a snowstorm: Cancer in dense breasts

Looking for a snowball in a snowstorm: Cancer in dense breasts


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

You’ve likely heard that the best defense against breast cancer is early detection. Definitely true, those yearly mammograms may not be as effective as you think — IF you’re among the 40 percent of American women who have been diagnosed with dense breasts.

Breast density is a condition in which there is more tissue than fat in the breasts. It can actually mask lumps, cysts and tumors, some of which could be cancerous. In fact, dense breast tissue can reduce the effectiveness of a mammogram by 36-38 percent, according to a New England Journal of Medicine study.

"Screening mammography is safe and effective for many women; however, mammograms can be less sensitive and harder to interpret if a woman has dense breast tissue," explains Jose Perez-Tamayo, M.D., radiologist at Lakeview Hospital. "Since both the cancer and glandular tissue appear white on mammograms, small cancers are often hidden by dense tissue."

According to the National Cancer Society, breast cancer patients diagnosed in stage II of the disease have five-year survival rates of 93 percent, compared with a 22-percent rate when diagnosed in stage IV. What’s more, women with dense breasts can be six times more likely to develop cancer, according to breastcancer.org.

Here is another troubling statistic: up to 47 percent of women in the United States do not know if they have dense breast tissue. This is generally because breast density is determined only by a radiologist’s evaluation of a mammogram and often goes unreported to many women.

Looking for a snowball in a snowstorm: Cancer in dense breasts

So how can women with dense breast tissue take a defensive stand against cancer? According to Dr. Perez-Tamayo, a new automated ultrasound system may be their key to finding smaller cancers when they are most curable. This technique can improve the likelihood of breast cancer detection by 35.7 percent when combined with mammography.

FDA-approved in June 2014, the automated ultrasound screening can capture images of the entire breast area in about 15 minutes. It can better detect abnormalities within dense tissue including lumps, cysts and tumors. What’s more, ultrasounds are painless and have no known adverse effects.

“Ultrasound allows us to look into dense breast tissue with a different lens; it utilizes sound waves instead of x-rays,” notes Dr. Perez-Tamayo, “Not only is this breast cancer screening fast and comfortable, it does not use radiation. If you have dense tissue, ask your physician about adding an automated ultrasound screening to your breast cancer screening routine.”

Looking for a snowball in a snowstorm: Cancer in dense breasts

There may not yet be a cure for breast cancer. But with this new screening technology may be the key to survival for women with dense breast tissue. They now have a better chance at conquering the disease than ever before. Now they have a solution to the repeated frustration of inconclusive mammograms.

For women in Utah, this advanced technology is currently offered only at Lakeview Hospital. If you’ve been diagnosed with dense breasts following a mammogram, talk to your doctor and then schedule an automated breast ultrasound by calling 801-299-2357.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

BrandviewUtah
MountainStar Healthcare

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast