Dense breast tissue: What it indicates to have thick breasts
Thick breast tissue is found on a mammogram. Individuals with thick breasts often require extra imaging tests.
By Mayo Clinic Staff
If a current mammogram revealed you have thick breast tissue, you might question what this implies for your health. Health care specialists understand that thick breast tissue makes breast cancer evaluating harder. It likewise increases the threat of breast cancer.
Evaluation your breast cancer threat elements with your health care group. Together you can consider your alternatives for extra breast cancer screening tests and choose what’s finest for you.
What does it imply when your breasts are thick?
Thick breast tissue describes the method breast tissue searches a mammogram. It’s a really typical finding. It does not indicate there’s something incorrect.
The breasts are comprised of thick breast tissue and fatty breast tissue. Thick breast tissue consists of the milk glands, milk ducts and helpful tissue in the breast. Fat is made from fat cells. An individual with thick breast tissue has more thick tissue than fat.
On a mammogram image, the fatty breast tissue is transparent. It’s simple to translucent to try to find anything worrying. The thick breast tissue looks strong white on the mammogram image. It’s difficult to translucent. Breast cancer, which likewise looks strong white on a mammogram, might be missed out on.
How do I understand if I have thick breast tissue?
The only method to understand if you have thick breast tissue is to have a mammogram. A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast tissue.
The health care specialist who takes a look at your mammogram images chooses whether you have thick breast tissue. This health specialist is normally a radiologist. Radiologists are medical professionals with unique training to analyze the images from a test. The radiologist compares the quantity of fat to thick tissue. The radiologist chooses the level of breast density. In some cases a computer system program determine the level of density in the images and the radiologist checks to make certain that it’s appropriate.
What are the 4 classifications of breast density?
Breast density– The 4 levels
Levels of density are explained utilizing the American College of Radiology’s Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System, which is often reduced to BI-RADS. The levels of density are typically consisted of in a mammogram report utilizing letters. The levels of density are:
- A: Almost totally fatty ways that the breasts are practically completely comprised of fat. There is extremely little thick breast tissue.
- B: Scattered locations of fibroglandular density indicates the breasts are primarily comprised of fat. There are some spread locations of thick breast tissue.
- C: Heterogeneously thick ways that the majority of the breast tissue is thick breast tissue. There are some locations of fatty tissue.