Prevalencia de tejido mamario denso en una población en la ciudad de Bucaramanga, Colombia

Introduction: The presence of dense breast tissue in women is a condition that makes it difficult to assess and adequately interpret mammography, possibly masking suspicious lesions of malignancy. Recent studies suggest the performance of complementary studies for the screening and diagnostic approach of these patients. Objective: To establish the prevalence of women over 50 with dense breasts in Bucaramanga city studied by mammography and evaluate the performance of complementary studies Materials and methods: A retrospective descriptive study was conducted during the period from January 1, 2014 to August 31, 2015, 10,110 mammograms were reviewed in patients over 50 years of age. Subsequently, a review of the literature in the main databases was made. Results: 10110 mammograms were performed, 4448 were found to be positive for dense breast.  39.69% was heterogeneously dense breast tissue, and 4.29% extremely dense; The result was 43.9% patients with positive dense breasts Discussion: Breast density is an independent risk factor for breast cancer, being of medium importance compared to other factors. As the breast density increases, the overlap of the radiopaque breast tissue that can hide and delay the diagnosis of an underlying cancer is generated Conclusion: Given the high prevalence of dense breast tissue found in our population, current evidence suggests complementing screening with other imaging methods, individualizing each patient.