Column Health & Medicine

My mammogram revealed I have dense breasts. What does that mean?

Ideally, notifying women about breast density would lead to a conversation with a doctor

Aimee Cunningham

By Aimee Cunningham

Biomedical Writer

A photo of a woman getting a mammogram while a doctor helps position her with the machine.

Whether or not a person has dense breasts, it’s important to get screening mammograms, doctors say. While dense breasts modestly increase the risk of developing breast cancer, it’s just one factor that can contribute to breast cancer risk.

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After a mammogram, you may have gotten a letter in the mail that starts something like this: “Your mammogram indicates that you have dense breast tissue.”