Understanding dense breasts: What every woman should know

Breast is composed of the glandular tissue, fibrous connective tissue, and fatty breast tissue.

- DR. NAVEEN SANCHETY

The amount of such different types of tissue visible on a mammogram in relation to each other is a term called Breast density. Dense breast tissue contains relatively high glandular tissue and fibrous connective tissue and relatively low volumes of fatty breast tissue. Over half of women above 40 years who are subjected to mammography have dense breasts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2023) state that approximately 43 percent of women in the age group 40-74 years old have heterogeneously or extremely dense breasts.

Different aspects influence the density of the breast, such as genetic conditions, the application of menopausal hormone therapy, low body mass index (BMI), young age, and nulliparous condition. Studies published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (2019) have also revealed that hormone replacement therapy and family history plays a significant role in determining the level of breast density in postmenopausal women.

Dense breast may be diagnosed either through clinical or radiological examination. Radiologists use the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) to categorize breast density into four groups: