Breast density and cancer: What you should know - WSFA

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MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Nearly a month ago, former NBC “Today Show” co-anchor Katie Couric announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. One of her risk factors: dense breasts.

Statistics show more than half of women in America have dense breasts. But, statistics also show that a lot of women don’t know it. Why is this physical trait important? Experts say women with dense breasts have a higher risk for breast cancer and dense breast tissue makes it’s harder for radiologists to detect breast cancer using a mammogram alone.

To help inform and prevent deaths, reports state the Food and Drug Administration is looking to notify all women of their status when it comes to breast density as early at 2023.

Dr. Pam Strickland with the UAB Breast Health Clinic in Montgomery says this information is crucial.

“On a woman’s breasts, there are different kinds of tissues that make up the breast,” Dr. Strickland said. “There’s fatty tissue and then there’s fibrous and glandular tissue. And the more of the fibrous and glandular tissue you have in the breast, then the more white you see on a mammogram, and cancers will also show up as white on a mammogram. So, if you have a lot of this dense, fibrous and glandular tissue in your breast - then it may be harder to see on a mammogram, especially if there’s something small or subtle, that has changed”.

Until the FDA starts notifying women about their density, Dr. Strickland said the best form of prevention is knowing your body and talking to your physicians about your density and family history.

“If you have a family history of breast cancer, especially first-degree relatives. So, for instance, your mother or your your daughter, your sister - and you may need to start doing your mammograms and things earlier,” Strickland added. “The best form of prevention: constant conversations with your physician.”

She said it’s also important to let your doctors know about other types of cancer in your family history.

“In particular, ovarian cancer,” Dr. Strickland said. “So, anytime there’s a family history with breast cancer and or ovarian cancer, it’s a red flag that there could be some type of a genetic mutation associated with this risk.”

While a lot of this can be scary and stressful, Dr. Strickland likes to remind people that there are a lot of breast cancer resources in the River Region.

“My clinic, the UAB Breast Health Clinic, is part of UAB. We have top-rate oncologists and radiation oncologists and we have two breast centers here that focus completely on breast imaging,” Strickland said. “So, we’ve just got all kinds of resources here for breast cancer patients and there’s certainly no need to go elsewhere for your care.”

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