CLEVELAND — Fibroglandular tissue — or dense breast tissue — shows up as white on a mammogram. Dark areas on a mammogram are fatty breast tissue.

“It can be a little more challenging to find breast cancer in a patient who has dense breast tissue because cancer is white and the breast tissue is white,” said Holly Marshall, radiologist at University Hospitals.

She said dense breast tissue can be a risk factor for developing breast cancer, but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is giving patients one more tool to help them in their health care knowledge.

New guidelines mandate patients be notified of their breast density in their mammography reports.

What You Need To Know

  • Standard or non-3D-based mammograms may not be as effective as more recent advances that allow doctors to see small masses in dense breasts

  • The information will allow patients to be better advocates for themselves 

  • Cancer appears as white on a mammogram, the same color as dense breast tissue, making it difficult to detect

“Is with eye toward making it clear that insurance companies should be providing the appropriate screening services for the appropriate patients,” said Dr. Corey Speers, radiation oncologist at University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center.

He said standard or non-3D-based mammograms may not be as effective as more recent advances that allow doctors to see small masses in dense breasts.

Speers said breast cancer can hide out and compared a standard to a 3D mammogram.

“You're looking at a painting versus a sculpture. A painting will allow you to see what’s happening — a sculpture you can walk around and see what's happening behind on the backside," he said.

Mitchell said breast density is genetic but can change with weight or age.

She notes that new technology and comparing previous years’ mammograms is key to detecting cancer, and said that even with dense breast tissue, doctors are still able to detect cancer.