澳大利亚女性Kate Clark的遭遇凸显了乳腺密度检测的重要性。她因乳腺密度高，初期mammogram和超声检查均未能发现乳腺癌，直到通过MRI检查才确诊癌症已扩散至淋巴结，确诊时间为2024年7月。[1]据统计，澳大利亚约40%的女性属于高乳腺密度人群。[1]
为解决这一筛查漏洞，BreastScreen Australia在2024年11月更新政策，建议向所有接受筛查者报告乳腺密度。[1]BreastScreen Australia的Vicki Durston表示："我们知道乳腺密度是乳腺癌的风险因素"。[1]然而政策实施进展缓慢，目前仅新南威尔士州、维多利亚州、南澳州和西澳州等四个州执行乳腺密度测量和报告。[1]澳大利亚首都地区尚未落实该政策，但该地区政府承诺将在明年上半年提供辅助技术支持乳腺密度报告。[1]
Australian woman Kate Clark's experience highlights a critical gap in breast cancer screening: her initial mammogram and ultrasound failed to detect cancer because of her high breast density, with the disease only discovered through MRI after it had already spread to lymph nodes, confirmed in July 2024.[1]
BreastScreen Australia updated its policy in November 2024 to recommend reporting breast density to all screening participants, addressing the fact that approximately 40 percent of Australian women have dense breast tissue.[1] However, implementation remains uneven across the country, with only four states—New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia—currently measuring and reporting breast density to patients.[1] The Australian Capital Territory has not yet adopted the practice, though its health authorities have committed to providing supporting technology to enable breast density reporting in the first half of the coming year.[1]
Vicki Durston, a health official quoted in relation to the policy, acknowledged the clinical stakes: "We know that breast density is a risk factor for breast cancer."[1] The delayed rollout of density reporting across all jurisdictions means that many women remain unaware of whether they fall into a higher-risk category, potentially missing opportunities for supplementary screening methods that could improve early detection rates.