BreastCheck – The National Breast Screening Programme resolutely refuse to share information about Breast Density with Women who have Mammograms in Ireland.
I would like to thank the many Irish and International Media, Journalists and Publications who have recently supported our efforts to raise awareness about Breast Density and why a Woman needs to know if she has Dense Breasts.
Almost 50% of Women have Dense Breasts, putting them at an increased risk of developing Breast Cancer and making it more difficult to detect Cancer on their Mammograms.
Being Dense http://www.beingdense.com was started by me in February 2016. There was no information on Breast Density available to Women in Ireland then, the associated risk factors weren’t spoken about.
1,000s of Women have been educated because of the ‘Being Dense Advocacy’ Members of the Lobular Ireland Breast Cancer Patient Group are keen to advocate about this too and recently we took our Campaign to Ministers of State in Leinster House. We made an extensive, evidence-based submission to our National Screening Advisory Committee in December 2021, seeking Standardised Breast Density Reporting for Women who have Mammograms. We understand that it was passed to The Health Information and Quality Authority HIQA in March 2023 although we have had no further information on that.
We are petitioning the Minister for Health to mandate for Standardised Breast Density Reporting for Women who have Mammograms in Ireland.
You can sign our Petition here https://chng.it/cx5h22Bkzz
This information is for all Women, particularly those who are having Breast Screening Mammograms.
My diagnosis should have been made years earlier than it was. I had never missed a Mammogram appointment. I’d had several BreastCheck Mammograms, they were all reported as clear. I believed that I was doing everything I could, I believed and trusted my Mammogram results.
Six months after my last BreastCheck Mammogram, I noticed some physical breast symptoms. I asked my GP to refer me for a further test, an Ultrasound and MRI and following a triple assessment, I was diagnosed with a 7cm Invasive tumour which had already spread to my Axillary Nodes and my Intra Mammary Nodes. My Operating Surgeon told me that the Tumour had been there for 6 to 8 years. I knew it had been completely missed on my Screening Mammograms.
Some time after my Diagnosis, Expert Radiologists reported that my Tumour was ‘Unseen’ because I had DENSE BREASTS.
My Mammograms MISSED my Tumour, not once, not twice but three if not four times. BreastCheck did not tell me I had DENSE BREASTS even though they could see that on my Mammograms.
I had never been told about Breast Density or advised that I had Dense Breasts.
THIS HAPPENS A LOT.
Telling a Woman who has DENSE BREASTS that her Mammogram is CLEAR, is INCOMPLETE INFORMATION
It happens every day in our Breast Cancer Screening Population. Almost half of Women have Dense Breasts. Up to 50% of Breast Cancers are missed on Mammograms in Dense Breasts.
No woman availing of routine Breast Screening Mammograms should have to wait until after a Diagnosis of Breast Cancer to find out that she has Dense Breasts.
It’s incredulous that in 2025, BreastCheck HSE Ireland still DO NOT tell a Woman when her Mammogram indicates that she has Dense Breasts.
International evidence, Clinical Trial Results, Scientific studies, European Society of Breast Imaging Radiologists Eusobi – European Society of Breast Imaging point to the fact that ALL Women should know their Breast Density.
Thank you so much to OncoDaily and HER.IE for amplifying our Voice in relation to this.
Shame on our National Breast Cancer Screening Programme for their apparent indifference and the manner in which they have treated and continue to treat Women who simply want to know –
Have I got Dense Breasts?
#TellMeMyBreastDensity
It could Save my Life
Being Dense 