Mammograms aren’t always enough: One woman’s journey highlights importance of dense breast screening
By Lauren Pastrana
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MIAMI (WFOR) — Women often hear the reminder, “Get your mammogram!” But for many, a mammogram alone may not be enough-especially for those with dense breast tissue, which can make it harder to detect cancer.
Dorothy Roberts is one of those women.
She is diligent about her health. Every January, like clockwork, she’d go in for her annual mammogram and ultrasound– an extra screening step because Dorothy, like 40% of women, had dense breast tissue.
“I thought, ‘Oh, this is a piece of cake. I’m done, in and out.’ And, then I got the call said I need to have a biopsy,” she recalled.
In January 2022 she got her diagnosis– aggressive triple negative breast cancer.
The grandmother of five immediately started chemotherapy, and six months later, she had a double mastectomy.
“I learned a lot about myself,” Roberts said. “I learned that I’m a whole lot stronger than I ever thought I was.”
Roberts only learned she had dense breasts when she started visiting Mount Sinai Medical Center for her screenings.
Dense breasts are made up of a higher proportion of glandular and fibrous tissue, than fatty tissue.
Mammograms miss about 40 percent of cancers in dense breast tissue. That’s why Roberts started getting ultrasounds, too.
“I really believe that helped save my life,” she told her doctor, Stuart Kaplan.
“On a mammogram, because there is this density that’s present on the exam, it can obscure or hide a potential finding,” Dr. Kaplan said. “Specifically, mostly masses that can occur that can just blend in with the dense tissue.”
Dr. Kaplan is the Chief of Breast Imaging at Mount Sinai.
He says the Food and Drug Administration recently began enforcing requirements that provide women with more information about their bodies and their health.
“Now every state in the United States, at any facility that performs mammograms, those patients now need to be informed about what breast density is and what their actual breast tissue is composed of and whether or not they might need supplemental studies to enhance the screening for breast cancer process,” he said.
Roberts hopes her story reaches those women who may be putting off their next screening.
“I know you’re busy with your kids and your job and everything, but that can wait and get in and get it done,” she said. “If I could just help one more, one person out there, that would really mean a lot.”
Access to care can be an issue.
For the month of October, Mount Sinai is offering free or reduced mammograms or breast ultrasounds.
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