HORMONE USE AND MAMMOGRAPHY

Hormone therapy also causes some changes in mammographic examination.

Hormone therapy also causes some changes in mammographic examinations. Estrogen use increases breast density in more than half of women. It can create new, dense areas on mammograms, which can be confused with breast cancer. Therefore, a biopsy may be necessary to distinguish benign from malignant lesions. If such a lesion is suspected, treatment can be discontinued, and hormone-dependent changes can be detected mammographically. This protects the patient from unnecessary biopsies.