Nancy's Chalkboard Blog

My D Day: The Death of My Dad 46 Years Ago

September 27, 1968, a bomb dropped on my mom, my siblings and me. As I was rushing to the front door to catch my bus to school, the ring of the telephone startled me. It was 7:05 a.m. and the sound from our rotary phone implied no good news.
Exploring The Great West: Regaining Perspective on Health, Wealth and Worry

So often our life's perspective is gained by the view from our balcony or window, forming and dictating our attitudes from a very narrow lens . . . This excursion gave me the phenomenal opportunity to pause and set aside my "critical" daily activities to reflect on my great blessings.
Why I Talk To Strangers About My Breasts - Everyday Health Contributor

Hear Me Out by Dr. Nancy Cappello
How Celebrity's Breast Health Disclosure Matters

One celebrity's Wednesday morning Op-Ed ignited the issue of an inherited gene from an intimate discussion with health care providers to a blazing media craze.

Are You Dense? Fact #1: Breast density is one of the strongest predictors of the failure of mammography screening to detect cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #2: Two-thirds of pre-menopausal women and 40% of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #3: Adding more sensitive tests to mammography significantly increase detection of invasive cancers that are small and node negative.

Are You Dense? Fact #4: American College of Radiology describes women with "Dense Breast Tissue" as having a higher than average risk of Breast Cancer.

Are You Dense? Fact #5: While a mammogram detects 98% of cancers in women with fatty breasts, it finds only 48% in women with dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #6: A woman at average risk and a woman at high risk have an EQUAL chance of having their cancer masked by mammogram.

Are You Dense? Fact #7: Women with dense breasts who had breast cancer have a four times higher risk of recurrence than women with less-dense breasts.

Are You Dense? Fact #8: A substantial proportion of Breast Cancer can be attributed to high breast density alone.

Are You Dense? Fact #9: Cancer turns up five times more often in women with extremely dense breasts than those with the most fatty tissue.

Are You Dense? Fact #10: There are too many women who are unaware of their breast density, believe their “Happy Gram” when it reports no significant findings and are at risk of receiving a later stage cancer diagnosis.