South Australia Uni says that women SHOULD be advised of their breast density as it has such a bearing on their 'not so early' diagnosis .... https://www.adelaide.edu.au/robinson-research-institute/news/list/2020/12/09/women-should-be-told-about-their-breast-density-when-they-have-a-mammogram

Sadly, @afraser .... BreastScreen NSW continues to REFUSE to advise their clients of their breast density. :(I have had heated discussions with them, telling them it is malpractice by non disclosure (as my own mammograms missed my own BC - only found by my GP 3 months after a ‘clear’ MG!) .... and can lead to a terminal diagnosis in their client, when it should have been picked up earlier with an ultrasound - if they only knew they had dense breast tissue! An ultrasound (at the very least) should be an automatic addition to MG for those with dense breast tissue.If a mechanic saw an issue in a car that later caused a the car to crash ..., and DIDN’T advise them to get it fixed .... I am sure they’d be charged with manslaughter, if that person died.Well ..... women ARE dying from not being diagnosed earlier than they should have.I believe that BreastScreen WA is the only one who DOES advise their clients.i am now including this link on BSNSW’s Facebook page ...... I expect to be told off shortly!

Hi thereI have been having mammograms since the age of 40 ( am now 62) as I thought I felt a lump but was told I just had lumpy dense breasts.I was never told that dense breasts was in fact an extra risk factor for breast cancer.I initially went to a private breast clinic in Sydney and every time would also have an ultrasound on both breasts and a breast surgeon would examine my breasts.When I retired I started going to a free Breastscreen NSW clinic and although I had mammograms twice in a 4 year period they didn’t pick anything up.I found a lump myself ( by accident , I regret to say I was not in the habit of examining my breasts myself).it turned out to be lobular and 5.5cm resulting in a need for a mastectomy.I don’t have the energy to agitate with Breastscreen about it right now while I am still undergoing treatment, but I do feel somewhat upset.Over and above the usual I mean!

Thanks @arpie We do need to be advised about breast density, if I had known I had dense breasts I might have been more vigilant with the mammograms and ultrasound.

It is PATHETIC! They SEE the dense breast tissue there on the screen, whilst you are there ... and yet they continue to refuse to tell you that you have a ticking time bomb in your body.

Whenever I see the adverts from breastscreen Aust I get my pen out and change the 50 to 40, I'm in WA so we are informed about dense breasts but they still don't let women younger than 50 know they are eligible for free screening. Having said that I was living in country NSW when I was first diagnosed, my original tumour was 7cm so I wonder if my earlier screening would have found it if I'd been offered an ultrasound. I guess I'll never know, its too late now anyway I'm stage 4, that horse has definitely bolted.

University says women should be advised of their Breast Density!!

31 Replies

NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
4 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but takes a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.
AllyJay
Member
5 years ago
According to Breast Cancer Research (Australia) around 21% of new cancer diagnosis are in women younger than 50. Unless you fall into their age range bracket...tough titty. They receive state and government funding...that is..we, the taxpayers, pay their salaries, but those younger and older are left out to dry. They will still be paid by medicare for extended (both younger and older) patients for screening, yet they only advertise their "target" age. We the taxpayers also pay for the advertising....but I digress. In essence, that is misleading information. I was in the bank one day, and the lovely lady who always helps me, said to me that she was turning 55 the next year, and she would be sure to book her first mammogram. When I told her she could get one then and not wait another year, for free, no doctor referral needed, she didn't believe me at first. She said to me that all the media only mentioned 55 and so she had been waiting for that magical age to tick over. I'm sure this is the general impression....I'm not old enough to get breast cancer...I only have to be on my guard after 55. So very wrong on so many levels, and as you mention, when you try to highlight this in one of their facebook advertising posts, you're muzzled. If you don't join in with the ra ra ... yippee....breastscreen saved my life mantra, they'll just click the button and make you go away.
NoShrinkingViol
Member
5 years ago
@AllyJay Yep, BreastScreen NSW employs the mantra of 'younger women, dense breasts, false positives and the stress caused' ad nauseum as its rationale for not promoting its mammogram program to women starting at age 40.

Mention older women, dense breasts, false negatives (i.e. 'all clear letters' despite harbouring breast cancer) and BreastScreen NSW's silence is deafening. It fails to tailor screening to the requirements of each woman but employs a woefully inadequate one-size-fits-all approach.

The BreastScreen Reader Assessment Strategy (BREAST) at the University of Sydney notes a mammogram detection failure rate of about 30% with many missed cancers being visible on the image. https://breast-australia.sydney.edu.au/

Every year the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases the BreastScreen Australia Monitoring Report - here's a link to the 2020 report. BreastScreen Australia monitoring report 2020 (aihw.gov.au) P. 32 cites that over the past twenty years BreastScreen Australia's rate of detecting cancers at the 'small' stage (≤15 mm) has been declining.

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University says women should be advised of their Breast Density!!

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