Q: What are Dense Breasts? – Christine from Washington, D.C.
A: We say breasts are dense if they have more fibrous and connective tissue.
Less dense breasts have more fat and less fibrous tissue. Tissue is typically graded from A through D in terms of density. A is almost entirely fat, while D is almost entirely thicker fibrous tissue. I think of this like the thread count of sheets. If the fibers are woven far apart like a piece of gauze, you can see through them easily and detect small masses. If the fibers are woven tightly (think 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton!), it is much harder to see through the fibers and detect small masses behind or within them. This is made even more complicated by the fact that dense areas are not evenly distributed through the breast tissue, so dense areas can actually mimic breast masses in some cases and cause false positives on standard screening exams. Dense breast tissue can make it hard to accurately detect breast cancer. This is why screening that complements a mammogram (like an ultrasound or MRI) may be recommended for some people who have dense breast tissue.
Stay well, and keep the questions comin’!
Love,
Those Nerdy Girls
