A recent study has concluded that women with extremely dense breasts are more likley to suffer from breast cancer than those with more fatty tissue. The difference in breast make-up is fairly easy to determine with a mammogram, where the fat looks darker than dense tissue. Unfortunately, density cannot be determined without the help of a mammogram.
Frighteningly, tumors are also lighter in color. Obviously, this makes it more difficult to locate tumors within dense breast tissue. In the past, researchers believed women with dense breasts had more cases of breast cancer simply because of the difficulty to locate tumors in the tissue. In reality, the new research has shown that women with dense breasts are actually five times more likely to develop tumors in the first place.
With the new findings, breast density is now added to the list of risk factors associated with breast cancer. Yet, this risk factor remains largely ignored by doctors. The question is, what can women do to get their doctors to take this risk more seriously? With so many women dying from breast cancer every year because risk factors such as density are being overlooked, it seems it is time for the research to be taken more seriously and for women to demand that their doctors take notice.
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