Blessing Breast Center offers new screening option for women with dense breast tissue

Women with dense breast tissue are at higher risk for breast cancer. The Blessing Breast Center now offers an additional option that contributes to early disease detection for these women.

The Blessing Breast Center now offers the InveniaTM ABUS 2.0, approved by the FDA for breast cancer screening as an adjunct to mammography for women with dense breast tissue. ABUS is short for Automated Breast Ultrasound System.

“We are excited to add ABUS to our comprehensive breast cancer screening program,” said Dawn Herzog, Blessing Breast Center Supervisor. “By offering ABUS in addition to mammography to our patients with dense breast tissue, we anticipate improving detection for small cancers in these women. We believe ABUS will become an integral part of our practice for the detection of breast cancer.”

In dense breast tissue, breast cancer is more difficult to diagnose using mammography alone because both dense tissue and cancer appear white on a mammogram. With ABUS, suspicious masses appear black against the white dense tissue.

“Mammography is the gold standard for the detection of breast cancer; however, it doesn’t work equally well in all women, particularly those with dense breast tissue,” added Catherine Barteau, DO, Clinical Radiologists at Blessing Hospital. “Designed and built specifically for screening, research shows that ABUS technology in addition to mammography has the potential to find 35.7 percent additional cancers that would not have been found with mammography alone.”

Dr. Barteau suggests that women get regular mammograms as recommended by the American College of Radiology, and if they have been informed that they have dense breast tissue, they should talk to their doctor or radiologist about their specific risk and additional screening tests that might be appropriate.

In 2019, a national Density Inform Law was passed mandating that the FDA update mammography reporting so that women be notified if their breasts are dense. Providers may offer supplemental imaging as appropriate to help find cancers hiding in dense breast tissue.