Being Dense

Two decades of research on the masking risk of dense breast tissue by mammography screening is indisputable.

Click here masking risk also linked to contralateral breast cancer (spreading to the other breast) and interval breast cancers.

I have just read this article published in the Huffington post. It is Sunday evening, the advert for Daffodil day has just been on the television. It seems reprehensible that in 2017, years after medical studies have gathered significant evidence, Irish women are being kept in the dark.

Click here Huffington post link

Breast density and breast cancer is NOT FAKE news.

Women whose mammograms were reported on as clear and who went on to discover cancer tumours (interval cancer), within months, will know this.

Several studies concluded that this is a bigger risk factor than a family history of breast cancer.

The report states……

“While the causal risk of having dense breast tissue is critically important, the more important fact is the standard protocol, a one size fits all approach used for decades for breast screening, is placing women across the globe, who are already at risk of developing breast cancer, further at risk for a missed, delayed and advanced stage cancer which conveys worse survival outcomes. The randomized controlled trials of mammography are conclusive that reducing advanced disease is associated with a reduction in death. While the detection of early breast cancer is the goal, to reduce mortality, we must also demand and seek a corresponding reduction in advanced disease. This will not happen without revising the guidelines for screening the dense breasts, using different technologies in addition to mammography.”

It took the relentless determination of patient advocates, mostly advocating alone, who ignited the density reporting movement in America, by connecting the decades of scientific studies with personal stories of advanced disease and in some instances death.

Advocacy in Ireland is relying on women and men, reading this, to reach out and share the information with friends, family and colleagues. Please support beingdense and help shape the future of breast cancer screening in Ireland.

There is more evidence now than ever, to seek a change in our breast screening protocols.

Mammogram alone is simply not an acceptable one size fits all approach to breast screening.

If you would like to know more about late breast cancer diagnosis and links to breast density  – email info@breastdensity.com