Dr Malcom Pike discusses his talk at the Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer congress in New York City on the relation of mammographic density of breast tissue to breast cancer. Studies now underway hope to understand the total importance of mammographic density and how it potentially determines the effectiveness of chemoprevention.

It is understood when measuring mammographic density that the denser the breast, the more glandular tissue there is. What is not yet understood is why there is more proliferation in collagen than in dense tissue. Recent studies reveal that mammographic density changes in premenopausal women who are given tamoxifen, while in post-menopausal women changing the hormone balance does not affect the density.