High breast density means there is more breast and connective tissue than fat. Low breast density means the opposite. The level of density is based on a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 posing the greatest cancer risk.
Breast density usually declines with age, says internist Deborah Rhodes, M.D., an associate professor at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and an expert at Mayo's Breast Diagnostic Clinic.
But in some women, like Lunden, age is irrelevant. More than a quarter of women in their 70s have dense breasts, according to George Washington University Hospital.
Researchers don't know why dense breasts raise the risk for cancer, Dr. Rhodes says.
One theory: Breast cancer occurs in the lobules (milk-producing glands) and ducts (tiny tubes that carry the milk to the nipple), so the more lobular tissue you have, the higher your risk that "something will go awry there," she explains.
Another theory holds that the dense breast tissue fosters the rapid production of cells that cause breast cancer, she adds.
"Women with dense breasts face double jeopardy, because just having dense breasts increases your risk of cancer and the density makes the cancer harder to find," Dr. Rhodes explains.
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