A young woman who lost her mother to cancer believes she might still be alive if doctors had told her she had dense breasts. 

Martha Lovett Cullen’s mother, Marian, lived an active, healthy lifestyle and was always “vigilant” about her medical appointments. 

For a time during the pandemic, mammograms to check women’s breasts for cancer were suspended. 

Three-years ago, after appointments resumed, she booked herself an appointment. 

“It was clear - which was great, a big relief - and it was the following year that she noticed something herself, a small lump she just found a bit alarming,” Martha told Moncrieff.  

“So, she asked her GP about it in terms of getting another mammogram done. 

“She was kind of told, ‘Oh, you have your breast check next year, so do you want to wait for that?’ 

“She had to push to get the additional scan done.” 

A doctor examines a mammogram snapshot of the breast of a female patient. Picture by: Oksana Krasiuk / Alamy Stock Photo

Eventually, it turned out she had Stage 4 breast cancer, which she found “extremely shocking” given she had so recently been given a clean bill of health. 

It turned out, her scan in 2022 had missed the cancer. 

“Women who have very dense breasts, there’ll be a lot of white on their mammograms,” Martha explained. 

“But in Ireland, it’s not reported to women that they have dense breasts or not. 

“It can basically mask cancers, tumours and anything out of the ordinary. 

“Whereas, ultrasounds and MRIs would give a lot clearer views if there is anything unusual going on.” 

A consultant analyzing a mammogram. Picture by: Alamy.com.

No one had told Marion that she had dense breasts. 

If they had, Martha believes she would have undergone a second checkup. 

“Her frustration was very much around the fact that if she had been told in 2022, with her mammogram, ‘Just to let you know, you have dense breasts, so if you want to go for an additional scan’, it might have been a very different story,” Martha said. 

“She could still be here today.” 

'Something wasn’t right'

The news was “life changing” for the entire family. 

“We were under the impression we would have at least a few years,” Martha said. 

“We didn’t think it would be one-year.” 

Marion died just a month after she turned 61 and Martha described her mother’s death as still “quite raw”.

“We were in the hospital with her, we knew something was wrong,” she said. 

“She wasn’t fully compos mentis. 

“Something wasn’t right and they were doing scans to figure out what it was.” 

Martha believes doctors in Ireland should routinely inform a patient if they have dense breasts, allowing them to make an informed decision about booking a second checkup. 

“Many countries do have a protocol in place that when you get your mammogram results, you are also told your level of breast density,” she said. 

Martha added that she “basically can’t understand why it’s not done here” and a petition urging the Minister for Health to introduce a Breast Density Notification Law has been signed by thousands of people.

Official response

In a statement to Newstalk, the Department of Health said it was "committed to advancing cancer screening". 

"With regards to breast density notification specifically, it is necessary to note that the recently updated ‘European Commission Initiative on Breast Cancer: European guidelines on breast cancer screening and diagnosis’, highlight the low certainty of evidence surrounding the incorporation of breast density measurement into population health screening programmes," a spokesperson said.

"This is in contrast to the recommendation of the European Society for Breast Imaging (EUSOBI), which recommends that women with extremely dense breast tissue are offered screening with breast MRI.

"These contrasting positions reinforce the need for careful and detailed consideration of the matter."

You can listen back here:

Main image: Martha Lovett Cullen and her mother, Marion. Image: Supplied.