Sitting on our couch with great anticipation, my husband and I listened intently to my breast surgeon as she reviewed the pathology report from my recent breast cancer diagnosis. It was less than a month, after I persisted as to why my breast cancer was not discovered by my recent mammogram, that my surgeon disclosed that my cancer was invisible on mammogram because of my ‘dense breast tissue.’ This was the first time these terms were disclosed to me after eleven years of faithfully having mammograms and now potentially facing an advanced breast cancer diagnosis.
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daf10
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Same thing happened to me. I had faithfully gone yearly for my mammograms for 8 years. On the 6 th year a technician doing my mammograms said I have dense breasts, I said oh I hadn't heard that before what does that mean and she said you have breast like a 20 year old. The 7 th Mammogram I was told the same thing that my breasts were dense. No one told me that if you have dense breast that you cant see the breast cancer. I found the cancer myself and I was already stage IV.
Sorry to hear about your unfortunate story Women in the US are required by to be told if they have dense breast but most are not told that they need additional screening. Please continue to post and get the support you need
I had the same experience. I was fortunate to find my lumps at stage I - in both breasts. Now my sisters get the new digital mammograms so this does not happen to them.
I had 3 mammograms in the 13 months before bc was diagnosed, at stage IV with bone mets. Cancer never seen on mammogram. Sneaky lobular, often doesn't show up on mammos. Still doesn't show, even when we know it is there and where it is! Crazy. I get anoyed every year when I go into the mammogram clinic and see all the early prevention and pink ribbon stuff posted on walls, windows and reception counter! Why not "mammograms miss 10-20% of bc" or "if you have dense breasts, ask for an ultrasound?" Grrrr!
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