Breast Density and Breast Cancer: What’s the Connection?
Has your healthcare provider ever spoken with you about breast density? Are you aware of the correlation between breast density and breast cancer? If you answered no to either of these questions, we urge you to keep reading. Research has shown that women with dense breasts can be six times...
February: National Cancer Prevention Month & the Month of Love – How do the two intertwine?
Not only is February considered to be the month of love, it’s also National Cancer Prevention Month – a great time to combine the two and show yourself some love by caring for your personal health, which includes your breasts. Each year, sixty thousand women in the U.S. are diagnosed...
The Unmasking of Breast Cancer in Dense Breasts: The Elephant in the Examining Room
By Nancy M. Cappello, Ph.D., Director & Founder, Are You Dense Inc & Are You Dense Advocacy Inc.www.areyoudense.org and areyoudenseadvocacy.org Breast cancer screening by mammography reduces mortality from breast cancer. Mammography has been a breast surveillance procedure for four decades with the publication of the first randomized controlled trial, Health Insurance Plan (HIP) in 1966, when I...
Study Shows Breast Density is Most Common Risk Factor for Breast Cancer
An estimated 40% of women have dense breast tissue that may mask the presence of cancerous tissue.i Breast tissue is made of lobules, ducts, and fatty and fibrous connective tissue.ii When a woman has more fibrous tissue than fatty tissue, her breasts are considered dense.ii Given that cancer and fibrous breast tissue both...
Recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Here at iCAD we would like this opportunity to recognize those who are battling breast cancer and those survivors and their families along with the companies that develop technology to detect and treat breast cancer. This is a great time to be reminded of the importance of breast health and your annual mammogram. If...
An Inconvenient Truth: Implementing Solutions To Screening The Dense Breast To Avoid Winners And Losers
My blue-collar dad, who started a plumbing business, instilled in me the value of education. Though he died when I was fifteen, I continue to hear his resolute wisdom which aided my career decisions for nearly five decades. My career as an educator, culminating with a Ph.D., afforded me bountiful opportunities to...
Top 10 Tips for Your First Mammogram
If you are about to get your first mammogram, it’s normal to feel some anxiety. But you can put your mind at ease if you approach the exam armed with knowledge. Following are some tips to help you be iNFORMED. 1. Mammograms are lifesaving. Finding breast cancer early reduces your...
What are dense breasts? Does it matter?
There is a wide variety of how normal breasts appear, both visually and on mammography. However, one of the important ways breasts differ on mammography is breast density. What is breast density? Breasts are composed of fat, supporting structures like ligaments and vessels, and glandular tissue. The glands that produce milk...
“Isn’t my mammogram good enough?”
Most women have had or are at least familiar with the important role that mammograms can play in diagnosing breast cancer. For many women, the thought of a mammogram causes feelings of anxiety and stress. To face a mammogram with more confidence and less angst, it’s important for women to...