Dr. Anne Marie McCarthy on Measuring Breast Density with Computer Algorithms

Anne Marie McCarthy, MD, research fellow, Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses using computer algorithms to measure breast density.

Dense breasts are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, said McCarthy. To understand how race impacts breast density, McCarthy and her team compared the breast density of white women to black women using computer algorithms that quantitatively measured density based on mammogram films.

Typically, radiologists use a more subjective method to measure breast density, visually examining the mammogram film and placing women into categories, said McCarthy.

Using this technique, they found that after controlling for age, BMI, and reproductive factors, black women had a higher breast density.