Researchers identify possible new risk for breast cancer for aging women with dense tissue

"While breast density declines with age, a slower rate of decline in one breast often precedes a cancer diagnosis in that breast."

That conclusion is reported in a story published a while back by Roni Caryn Rabin in The New York Times that I just unearthed.

Rabin writes that a study published in JAMA Oncology says, "Scientists has long known that dense breast tissue is linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in women" but these new findings apparently indicate another risk.

Sue (Joy) Jiang, PhD

Shu (Joy) Jiang, the study's lead author, a PhD and an associate professor of public health sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says that "right now, everybody only looks at density at one point in time" but, since women have mammograms at regular intervals and the density of each breast is measured each time, "this information is actually already available but [is] not being utilized."

Jiang hopes the findings can be put "into clinical use as soon as possible — it will make a huge difference."

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, over a 10-year period, analyzed breast density changes in 10,000 women.

Dense breast cancer tissue, it's long been established, makes tumors harder to detect in imaging scans.

More information about density issues can be found in Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner's breast cancer, a VitalityPress book that I, Woody Weingarten, aimed at male caregivers.