A new requirement from the Food and Drug Administration for radiology facilities nationwide aims to help better detect breast cancer.
Radiology reports for breast cancer detection are now required to say whether a patient’s breast tissue is “dense” or not.
What does that mean?
“I liken it to the sky: So the sky is blue and the clouds are white, so breast density essentially is white, and the cloudier the sky, the harder it is to find lesions, because cancer is white and breast tissue is white,” said Dr. Michelle Townsend-Day, chief of breast imaging for MedStar Union Memorial and MedStar Good Samaritan hospitals in Baltimore, Maryland.
According to the FDA, the mammography report needs to include an overall assessment of breast density, classified in one of the following categories:
- “The breasts are almost entirely fatty.”
- “There are scattered areas of fibroglandular density.”
- “The breasts are heterogeneously dense, which may obscure small masses.”
- “The breasts are extremely dense, which lowers the sensitivity of mammography.”
Townsend-Day said the FDA’s new requirement for all reports is good news for women nationwide. It gives them the tools, she said, to take that next step in their health if the report shows the density of the breast tissue makes it hard to read.
“They can contact their primary care physician or provider, so they can have an in-depth discussion of what that means and what extra imaging they should have or not have depending on their breast density,” she told WTOP.
Townsend-Day said she believes it empowers women to keep better track of their breast health and the risks of cancer.
“I hope this allows patients overall to take more ownership of their health and to advocate for themselves as it relates to their overall increased breast cancer risk. Because breast density does confer a slightly elevated risk of developing breast cancer over time, as well as the masking effect, meaning hiding breast cancers,” Townsend-Day said.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
