FARGO — During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, health care providers are reminding women to schedule annual breast cancer screenings.

Doctors at Sanford's Roger Maris Cancer Center in Fargo recommend women begin having mammograms annually at age 40. They note breast cancer can be harder to detect in patients with extremely dense breast tissue.

From 2020 to 2024, the Food and Drug Administration mandated that all mammogram reports include breast density information. Nearly 40% of women in the U.S. have dense breast tissue and may require additional imaging, such as an MRI or contrast-enhanced mammogram.

"Now, even when we talk about dense breasts, there are two categories. There's heterogeneously dense and extremely dense. It's the extremely dense breasts that we are more concern

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