"My Mammogram Missed My Breast Cancer" - Lauren Steussy
Rosanna Silber, now a 32-year-old mom to be and nurse practitioner, felt a pea-sized lump in her breast, which her gynecologist believed was just a cyst. Silber insisted on getting a mammogram, typically considered the gold standard for catching breast cancer. The screening came back clear: no cancer. She fought for additional testing, which eventually confirmed her suspicion. Mammograms often detect breast cancer, and catching it early helps patients survive the illness and undergo less-complicated treatment. But they’re not perfect: Mammograms miss about 15 percent of all breast cancer cases, according to a 2015 report published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. The discrepancy is often the result of dense breast tissues, a common condition that affects about 40 percent of women over the age of 40. “It’s like trying to see a polar bear in a snowstorm,” said Elisa Port, MD, director the Dubin Breast Center and chief of breast surgery at the Mount Sinai Hospital, and an investigator with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Women with dense breast tissue are at a slightly higher risk for getting breast cancer.
- Elisa Port, MD, FACS, Director of the Dubin Breast Center and Chief of Breast Surgery, The Mount Sinai Hospital