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Deborah's Story

Name: Deborah Russolillo
Date of Diagnosis: June 30, 2009
Age at Diagnosis: 42
Stage: 1
Time from "normal" mammogram to cancer diagnosis: One week
How was cancer detected: Ultrasound

My name is Deborah Russolillo. I am 42 and I was diagnosed on June 30, 2009, with breast cancer. I am one of the lucky women whose gynecologist, Dr. John Lewis, automatically schedules me for an ultrasound due to dense breast tissue. If he hadn't done this I would not know today that I have cancer. My yearly mammogram on June 22th, was "normal" yet the ultrasound that same day picked up something of concern. I had a needle core biopsy on the 25th and by June 30th I was told I had breast cancer. The letter I received from the radiology facility said, everything was good - see you next year. Without ultrasound technology I would not even know today that I have cancer. I was one of the lucky ones that caught mine early. I went through a double mastectomy in July and now will endure 4 rounds of chemotherapy. If it weren't for the ultrasound my diagnosis and prognosis could have been much worse. I can't thank Dr. Lewis enough for being so proactive and to Dr. Nancy Cappello and the CT legislature for working so hard to get legislation passed and information to the public about dense breast tissue so that other women too can have breast cancer detected at its earliest stage.

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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.