Keywords:
Breast, Mammography, Health policy and practice, Tissue characterisation, Retrospective, Experimental, Performed at one institution
Authors:
M. Alakhras1, D. S. Al-Mousa2; 1Ar Ramtha/JO, 2Irbid/JO
DOI:
10.26044/ecr2020/C-03352
Purpose
To evaluate the distribution of breast density among Jordanian women and its relationship with age and relate it to other countries.
In Jordan, a Middle Eastern Asian country, breast cancer is the most frequent cancer and constitutes 36.4% of all reported female cancers in 2018 (1). The distribution of the cases by age group shows that most of the cases 30% were in the age group 40-49 years and 24.9% in the age group 50-59 (2). According to Jordan National Cancer Registry report in 2012, 70% of breast cancer cases are presented at advanced stages (III-IV) during which prognoses is low and mortality rates are high (3).
Mammography is the leading screening modality for early detection of breast cancer, and it has been shown to significantly decrease breast cancer mortality rate, and improve prognoses (4). However, high breast density reduces the ability to detect breast carcinoma because dense areas on mammogram may obscure subtle breast lesions hence, decrease mammographic diagnostic tool efficacy (5). Breast density is categorised according to the ratio between the radiodense glandular and connective tissue to radiolucent fatty tissue (6). It is a strong independent risk factor for breast cancer and women with high breast density have four to six times increased risk of developing breast cancer as compared to women with fatty breasts (7).