indicator of breast cancer risk

Mammographic density as an indicator of breast cancer risk.

The mammogram depicts the constituent tissues of the normal breast, and is taken to show the features of pathology. This technique is now widely used for the early diagnosis of breast cancer by screening of the normal population. The tissues making up the mammographic image can essentially be viewed as those with the radiographic characteristics of water and those of fat.

In addition, some pathologies demonstrate calcification, which is always due to an abnormal process, although many of these processes are benign, and of no consequence to the woman. Since the 1970s, starting with observations made by Wolfe, there has been interest in why some women have a greater proportion of dense tissue proposed four than others.

In 1976, Wolfe categories for separating women with different amounts of dense tissue and proposed that there was a relationship between the densest mammographic pattern and cancer risk.this hypothesis was debated in the literature for two decades, and was largely not believed by radiologists. In the past few years, greater credence has been given to this hypothesis, and it is now recognised that the densest mammographic patterns express a four to six times increased risk of breast cancer when compared with the least dense.

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