Shared Decision Making a Fantasy as Task Force Recommendations Put Women with Dense Breast Tissue at Risk for Undetected Cancers

Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.

Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue. 

Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.

American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.

While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.

A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.

Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.

A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.

Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.

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.