I Didn’t Get Why Dense Breasts Mattered Until I Got Cancer at 46

While we can’t change our breast density, we can improve detection. If you have dense breasts, your mammogram report may suggest talking with your doctor about additional imaging, such MRIs or ultrasounds, which don’t use radiation and are better at finding cancer in dense tissue.

An MRI helped catch my cancer early. I started high-risk screening in 2019 because of my dense breasts and my mom’s breast cancer diagnosis at 49. I reluctantly began regular MRI scans, staggered six months after my mammogram so I’d be screened twice a year. I really didn’t think I needed them, and skipped one or two during Covid.

But then, in early 2022, an MRI detected a “suspicious mass”—a terrifying phrase to read in a mammogram report.

The radiologist recommended a follow-up mammogram and ultrasound, but neither scan showed anything abnormal (thanks to that polar bear effect). Six months later I returned for a follow up MRI, and this time it not only detected the mass, it showed that it had grown. The next step was a biopsy, and about a week later, right before Christmas, I found out it was cancer.

My doctors were surprised by how elusive my tumor was—it remained invisible on mammograms and ultrasounds even a week before surgery. These hidden tumors are known as mammographically occult, which sounds like a Netflix series I’d rather skip.

Now I encourage every woman I know to check their breast density status and discuss additional screening if needed. Yet one pushback I often hear is: “I hate getting mammograms—why would I sign up for even more screening?”

I get it. But the answer is simple: It could save your life.

The key to surviving cancer is catching it early, at stage 0 or 1, when it’s located only in the breast. At these stages, tumors are small and highly treatable, with a five-year survival rate of 99%.