Home Nancy's Chalkboard Blog Let’s Talk: Aren’t Health Care Providers Expected To Discuss Medical Reports With Patients?

Let’s Talk: Aren’t Health Care Providers Expected To Discuss Medical Reports With Patients?

Originally Posted Apr 26th, 2016

Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D. Founder & Director,
Are You Dense, Inc. &
Are You Dense Advocacy, Inc. See Bio

From the blog: Being the architect of legislation to include a patient’s dense breast tissue, the strongest predictor of mammography missing cancer, in the patient’s mammography reporting results, I am compelled to respond to a study in JAMA: Study Finds Poor Understandability of Notifications Sent to Women Regarding Breast Density. In this study, the authors conclude, “Efforts should focus on enhancing the understandability of Dense Breast Notifications (DBNs) so that all women are clearly and accurately informed about their density status, its effect on their breast cancer risk, and the harms and benefits of supplemental screening….” of which I agree. It’s outlandish, however, that the authors also conclude the understandability of breast density notifications is poor while severely understating the importance of physicians discussing test result findings with their patients.

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AYD In The News

What is Dense Breast Tissue?

How Do I Know if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

What Do I Do if I Have Dense Breast Tissue?

Are You Dense? Fact #1:
Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #2:
Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #3:
Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.
Are You Dense? Fact #4:
American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.
Are You Dense? Fact #5:
While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #6:
A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.
Are You Dense? Fact #7:
Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.
Are You Dense? Fact #8:
A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.
Are You Dense? Fact #9:
Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.
Are You Dense? Fact #10
There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.