Going Deep on Dense Breast Tissue (part 2)

Hello bOOb Bloggettes:

Let’s continue from where we left off with the last blog on dense breast tissue (DBT) and how it affects both you and your breast cancer (BC) screening. First fun fact: Women with DBT are 3 to 6 times more likely to develop BC in their lifetime. And the denser your breasts are, the higher your risk of BC. Let’s look at why this might be so.

I had to go deep into the literature to figure all of this out, but I finally did and it was pretty astounding. We first have to consider the makeup of a woman’s breast, which is composed of fatty tissue and fibroglandular tissue. The latter is what composes DBT. The fibrous tissue is the supporting structures in breast, and the glandular is the milk ducts, glands, etc. This glandular tissue, I discovered, is lined with epithelial tissue/cells — which is the most radiation-sensitive tissue in the body. And the higher the degree of this dense tissue in the breast, the more sensitive her breast is to radiation and thus the higher probability of radiation-induced breast cancer for that woman.

But here’s the rub: In the last blog we talked about how the radiologist cranks up the mammogram’s radiation to be able to differentiate between the dense breast tissue and any potential cancer (both appear white on a mammogram) in the woman’s dense breast. So women with high density breasts — who already have a sensitivity to radiation — are being subjected to even more radiation than other women, in amounts way over the average “allowable” radiation.

Does it make sense to screen these women with high amounts of radiation who are at a higher risk for radiation-induced cancer?  I think not.

Let’s hear it straight from the Radiological Society of North America: “In the case of mammography, the primary risk is that of breast cancer induction and resultant mortality due to the exposure of fibroglandular breast tissue to ionizing radiation.” (Ionizing radiation is what’s used in a mammogram.) So RSNA is pointing out that the radiation delivered by the mammogram to our radiation-sensitive dense breasts can induce or create cancer in our breasts.

Where is the common sense in BC screening?

This is a darn good reason right here to at least replace mammography with ultrasound — the latter which is every bit as good as the mammogram for cancer detection (with the exception of associated calcifications, which many believe are leading to the over-diagnosis and treatment of many women anyway). And then throw in thermography coupled to the ultrasound and you have no radiation during screening! (see previous blog on this)

What kills me is that I read over and over on the internet key associations saying things like they “have no idea why women with DBT have a higher degree of BC risk”.  Even the American Cancer Society says this: “Women who have dense breast tissue have a higher risk of breast cancer compared to women with less dense breast tissue. It’s unclear at this time why dense breast tissue is linked to breast cancer risk.”

Good grief, no it is not. Go into the medical literature and see what the cell biologists and physiologists are saying — because they’re all YELLING for medicine to stop radiating these women and their high density breasts (or any density at all for that matter because all dense tissue is radiation-sensitive).

And here’s an example of what the researchers are saying: “Most breast cancers are carcinomas and arise from epithelial cells forming the ductal structures of the breast. [Ionizing Radiation] may contribute to mammary carcinogenesis.” In other words, they’re saying that most cancers start in the radiation-sensitive dense breast tissue of the breast — and mammograms may be a culprit.

Blog at you soon, thanks for reading and helping to spread the word!  (Please see the “share” links below.)  And we’d love to hear comments from you! (see below as well)

Stay healthy,

Megan

Megan Smith, M.S.
Director, bOObs: The War on Women’s Breasts

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