Mammographic Breast Density Patterns in Asymptomatic Mexican Women

Breast density (BD) is a risk factor for breast cancer. Aims . To describe BD patterns in asymptomatic Mexican women and the pathological mammographic findings. Methods and Material . Prospective, descriptive, and comparative study. Women answered a questionnaire and their mammograms were analyzed according to BI-RADS. Univariate ( χ 2 ) and conditional logistic regression analyses were performed. Results . In 300 women studied the BD patterns were fat 56.7% (170), fibroglandular 29% (87), heterogeneously dense 5.7% (17), and dense pattern 8.6% (26). Prevalence of fat pattern was significantly different in women under 50 years (37.6%, 44/117) and older than 50 (68.8%, 126/183). Patterns of high breast density (BD) (dense + heterogeneously dense) were observed in 25.6% (30/117) of women ≤50 years and 7.1% (13/183) of women >50. Asymmetry in BD was observed in 22% (66/300). Compression cone ruled out underlying disease in 56 cases. In the remaining 10, biopsy revealed one fibroadenoma, one complex cyst, and 6 invasive and 2 intraductal carcinomas. 2.6% (8/300) of patients had non-palpable carcinomas. Benign lesions were observed in 63.3% (190/300) of cases, vascular calcification in 150 cases (78.9%), and fat necrosis in 38 cases (20%). Conclusions . Mexican women have a low percentage of high-density patterns.