KALISPELL — The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a ruling last month that requires mammography facilities to notify patients about the density of their breasts.
Women with dense breasts have a higher risk of developing cancer and dense breast tissue also makes it more difficult to spot cancer on a mammogram.
Bigfork resident Cinda Raymond has been undergoing annual mammogram testing for decades. In late August, she got a call back from her doctor after her checkup.
“The radiologist was concerned that it was so dense that they couldn’t get a clear image," said Raymond.
Raymond was called back into Logan Health to undergo a breast MRI, which revealed an area of concern. Her doctors decided a biopsy was necessary.
“I had the biopsy and okay that’s done I’m sure it’s going to be fine right? And then two days later they called me and said it was cancer, so that was a big surprise.”
Raymond was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer and just two weeks later her cancer was removed by surgery.
“The positive is they caught it early. They caught it early," she said.
Her cancer was found thanks to optional breast MRI testing. Due to breast density, her cancer did not show up on her mammogram.
“The MRI is the only way that it would’ve been caught, so I’m grateful to that radiologist that said you need an MRI,” said Raymond.
Logan Health Mammography Physician Scott Alexander explained a Breast MRI is an advanced screening tool that can help find cancers hidden within dense tissue.
He said the MRI testing only takes 10 minutes.
“And the power of this test is pretty incredible based on the dye we inject and areas that are abnormal they will tend to light up with the dye, and in Cinda’s case that’s exactly what happened, it’s something that we would not have seen on a screening mammography, diagnostic mammography, or even ultrasound, we would not see this area, it was only because of the Breast MRI.”
Alexander said having the ability to offer breast MRI testing at Logan Health in Kalispell is a powerful resource for the community. Patients don’t need to travel long distances to receive the care they need.
“It’s pretty incredible that in a small town in northwest Montana that we’re able to offer women abbreviated Breast MRI, contrast enhanced mammography, both supplemental screening modalities which are the best of the best.”
Cinda had no family history of breast cancer and was in great physical shape when she received her cancer diagnosis.
“And I just want to make sure that I’m very clear, most of the breast cancers that we see come in women who have no family history, they’re not at an elevated risk, about 75%, so even if you don’t have an elevated lifetime risk of breast cancer that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be getting annual mammograms,” said Alexander.
Raymond recommends anyone with dense breast tissue undergo MRI testing. Early detection helped save her life.
“And I feel great, I feel fabulous and blessed that I got off the fence and did the MRI to find out, because next year if I would have waited, it would have been a different story.”
More information on Logan Health Breast Cancer services can be found here.
