Dense breast tissue

Dense breast tissue

Breasts are made up of fatty tissue, fibrous tissue, and glandular tissue. Someone is said
to have dense breast tissue (as seen on a mammogram) when they have more glandular
and fibrous tissue and less fatty tissue. Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of
breast cancer than women with less dense breasts. Unfortunately, dense breast tissue can
also make mammograms less accurate.
A number of factors can affect breast density, such as age, menopausal status, the use of
drugs (such as menopausal hormone therapy), pregnancy, and genetics.
Certain benign breast conditions
Women diagnosed with certain benign breast conditions might have an increased risk of
breast cancer. Some of these conditions are more closely linked to breast cancer risk than
others. Doctors often divide benign breast conditions into 3 general groups, depending on
how they affect this risk.
Non-proliferative lesions: These conditions are not associated with overgrowth of breast
tissue. They do not seem to affect breast cancer risk, or if they do, it is to a very small
extent. They include:
· Fibrosis and/or simple cysts (this used to be called fibrocystic disease or changes)
· Mild hyperplasia
· Adenosis (non-sclerosing)
· Ductal ectasia
· Phyllodes tumor (benign)
· A single papilloma
· Fat necrosis
· Periductal fibrosis
· Squamous and apocrine metaplasia
· Epithelial-related calcifications
· Mastitis (infection of the breast)
· Other benign tumors (lipoma, hamartoma, hemangioma, neurofibroma,
adenomyoepthelioma)