LANSING (WKZO)– Beginning Monday, women with dense breast tissue must be notified in writing and encouraged to consider additional tests, because simple mammograms may not always reveal life threatening tumors. It’s a new Michigan law.
They both appear as white splotches on a mammogram and have led to misdiagnosis.
A Grand Rapids Attorney who contracted breast cancer that spread to her lymph nodes because it was missed by Mammograms has been pushing legislators to approve the measure.
Teresa Hendricks-Pitsch was told by her doctors that the cancer must have been growing for years even though she had the screening annually.
22-states now have adopted measures that warn women about the limitations of mammography in women with dense breast tissue.
It may raise the anxiety level of women who receive the letter, that probably can’t be avoided.
There are better tests and whether or not a particular woman needs them can be determined by a number of factors, including family history and timing of births, among other factors in consultation with doctors.
