Dense Breast Imaging in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow

Breast density describes how much of the breast is gland and fibrous tissue compared with fat, as seen on a mammogram. Dense breasts have more of the first and less of the second. It has nothing to do with the size of the breasts or how firm they feel.

Your mammogram report may give a density category. Radiologists use four: almost entirely fatty, scattered areas of dense tissue, heterogeneously dense and extremely dense. The last two are what people usually call dense breasts.

Density is normal. It is more common in younger women and often lessens with age and once periods have stopped, though not in every woman. Dense breasts are also linked with a somewhat higher chance of breast cancer over a lifetime. Density alone is not a diagnosis, and it is not a cause for alarm.

Dense tissue appears white on a mammogram, and so do many small changes, so a small change can be lost against white tissue. Fatty tissue appears dark, which is why a change stands out clearly in a fatty breast.

This does not make the mammogram useless. It still shows many changes, including the tiny calcium specks that a breast ultrasound shows poorly. It means the picture is harder to read and a small change can be missed. That is the reason extra imaging is sometimes added.

Whether you need anything extra depends on your age, your family history, any symptoms and what the mammogram shows. Many women with dense breasts need only the mammogram. When more is advised, it is usually one of these:

• 3D mammography: the same kind of test, with the breast pictured in thin layers so that tissue overlaps less.
• Breast ultrasound: sound waves, with no radiation, which can show a cyst or a lump within dense tissue.
• Breast MRI: sometimes advised for women at higher risk. We do not have an MRI scanner, so your doctor will say where to have it done, and we can review the images.

These extras are a doctor's decision. Having dense breasts does not mean you will be sent for all of them.

The word itself is no reason to hurry. Ask your doctor whether extra imaging makes sense for you, and keep to the screening schedule your doctor sets.

Two points matter. In dense breasts a normal mammogram is a little less reassuring than in fatty ones, so notice how your breasts look and feel. And if you can feel a lump, a normal mammogram does not settle it: you still need an examination and usually an ultrasound. See breast lump evaluation.