(NAPS)—Here’s important information for women. Human breasts are made up of different types of tissue: fatty, fibrous and glandular. If most of the tissue is fibrous and/or glandular, it is considered to be dense.
It is not unusual for a woman to have dense breasts. For most women, density decreases with age, but in some women there is little change. Breast density can only be determined by a mammogram, yet finding cancer in a woman with dense breasts is more difficult for a doctor when using traditional technology.
The good news is that there’s a more accurate exam—3D mammography—that can make detecting breast cancer easier in women with dense breasts. A new study published by the Radiological Society of North America showed that the 3D mammography exam finds significantly more cancers in women with dense breasts than a traditional mammogram.
That’s because 3D mammography technology allows a doctor to examine a woman’s breast tissue layer by layer. So instead of viewing all the complexities of the tissue in a flat image, as with traditional mammography, fine details are more visible and no longer hidden by the tissue above or below.
Determining Density Is Key
It is important for women to know their breast density. That’s because women with dense breasts have an increased risk of cancer. Experts are not certain at this time what it is about dense breast tissue that increases a woman’s risk.
Previous studies have shown that the 3D mammography exam finds more invasive cancers than a traditional mammogram—41 percent more—and decrease the number of women called back for unnecessary tests due to false alarms by up to 40 percent.
With the 3D mammography exam, women, including those with dense breasts, can feel more confident that their annual screening exam will find the truly troubling cancers while reducing the need for additional, unnecessary tests. Since 2011, over 8 million women have benefited from 3D mammography technology.
For more information, visit www.3dmammography.com. 3D mammography™ technology is available on the Selenia Dimensions system.
