(STAT News) – Dense breast tissue means that people have more fibrous and glandular tissue, which appears white on a mammogram, than fatty tissue. Cancer, too, looks like a white mass on a mammogram, so dense breasts can make it harder to detect. A mammogram will miss cancer in dense breasts in almost half of such cases.

But while it’s well known that dense breast tissue can make mammograms less effective, there’s not yet a clear protocol about how to handle this common issue. (Read More)