In 2023, an estimated 43,170 women died of breast cancer.
One in eight women has a chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime, and about half of women who are 40 or older in the United States have dense breast tissue, putting them at higher risk of developing breast cancer and making it harder for clinicians to detect it in mammograms.
In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released new rules that require a summary be sent directly to patients after having a mammogram, notifying them of their breast tissue composition and other findings.
“Breast density refers to the ratio of the amount of fibro glandular tissue versus fatty tissue in the breast,” said Priti Shah, M.D., director of Breast Imaging at VCU Health and VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The FDA rules now require all states to directly inform patients in plain language, in writing, whether or not they have dense breast tissue. Previously, a woman was only notified if they had dense breast tissue and only according to state laws.”
Shah says the requirement for plain language eliminates the barrier in terminology between doctors and patients and helps to standardize the process.
"There were 30 some states that required mammography practices to inform patients if they had dense breast tissue in writing and language, but the wording was inconsistent, and it wasn’t across the country. So this new FDA rule standardizes the process so that wherever you go anywhere in the country, you will have this information. And it also created standardized verbiage, so every facility has to use the same exact wording to minimize any confusion or misunderstanding,” said Shah.
The importance of mammograms
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a month devoted to educating people about breast cancer and the best practice for detection is a mammogram.
“A mammogram is a low dose X-ray of both breasts. And the importance of mammograms is that they save lives,” said Shah. “No test is perfect, but there’s a lot of data showing that, when done yearly and over the age of 40, mammograms can lower the death rate or improve the survival of breast cancer by over 40%. It is the gold standard in improving survival from breast cancer, because of its power to detect breast cancer in its earliest stages, stage zero, when it has not formed a lump that can be felt or seen on a clinical exam.”
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends breast cancer screening start at age 40 and continue every two years until age 74 to better serve younger women.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among U.S. women and represents about 30% of all newly diagnosed cancers in women.
About 66% of breast cancer cases are diagnosed before cancer has spread outside the breast and when treatments tend to work better. About one in eight women in the U.S. will develop invasive breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.
“Breast cancer screening helps find breast cancer early, when it is easier to treat,” Richmond and Henrico Health Districts Director Elaine Perry said.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, data from 2015 to 2019 in the U.S. show a 2% increase in breast cancer diagnoses per year among women in their 40s.
The rate of new cases of breast cancer in Virginia rose slightly between 2017 and 2021, according to the National Cancer Institute’s State Cancer Profile. The rate in Richmond was similar to the rate in Virginia. The rate in Henrico was somewhat higher than the rate in Virginia.
Shah has been at VCU for 16 years and has been medical director for six. She says that over that time, the data hasn’t changed and that just a year could make a difference.
"While there’s lots of great therapies, early detection and improvement of the technology, women are still getting breast cancer at the same rate they have been in the last 15 to 20 years. Early detection is our best prevention," said Shah.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com