INDIANAPOLIS — This October, doctors are warning about the risks of breast cancer. Many women could be at a greater risk and not even know it.
Doctors are concerned about women with dense breast tissue. Women who have dense breast tissue have more supportive tissue than fatty tissue in their breasts. It's detected with a mammogram.
This affects half of women, including Katie Couric, who spoke publicly about her diagnosis a few weeks ago. Women with dense breast tissue are two times more likely to get breast cancer.
Dr. Shakeeb Ahmad of Northwest Radiology said there are two reasons why dense breast tissue can be concerning. The denser breast tissue a woman has, the greater the risk for breast cancer. Also, when doctors look at the mammogram X-ray, dense tissue shows up white, and so does cancer, making it difficult to detect.
"When you have a breast cancer that shows up white on a background of non-dense breast tissue, it's easy to see, versus if you have dense breast tissue, here you have white everywhere, now you're trying to look for cancer that is white, it's very hard to see," Ahmad said.
It's unclear why dense breast tissue leads to cancer.
Breast cancer is most common in your 40s, and African American women are at a greater risk.
"Every three out of four women that do get breast cancer have no family history, they have no known risk factors of any kind. So, most of the women out there just happen to get breast cancer. We don't know exactly why," Ahmad said.
All women over 40 should get an annual mammogram. Doctors recommend those who have dense tissue get an additional screening like an MRI every year. It's still not perfect, but it helps increase detection.
Home screenings are also important periodically.
Signs of cancer are firmness that you feel is new, a new lump and skin color changes.
However, the bottom line is to make and keep that annual mammogram appointment, and women with dense tissue should schedule a second exam.