What tests are recommended for breast cancer screening?

Most medical organizations recommend women with an average risk of breast cancer consider regular mammogram testing beginning at age 40 and consider repeating the screening annually.

Women with dense breasts, but no other risk factors for breast cancer, are considered to have a higher risk of breast cancer than average. They may benefit from annual breast cancer screening.

Dense breast tissue makes it more difficult to interpret a mammogram, since cancer and dense breast tissue both appear white on a mammogram. Very dense breasts may increase the risk that cancer won't be detected on a mammogram.

Despite concerns about detecting cancer in dense breasts, mammograms are still effective screening tools. The most common type of mammogram — digital mammogram — saves images of your breasts as digital files instead of film and allows for more detailed analysis. This is more effective at finding cancer in dense breast tissue than older film mammogram technology.