Why did my mammogram not detect my stage three breast cancer? | Elizabeth L Silver

Half of women have dense breast tissue that does not show up on mammograms and can only be seen with extra screening

In July 2022, I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer after having had a normal" mammogram just nine months earlier at the age of 42. Other than a small thyroid disorder, I have been extraordinarily healthy my entire life, running half marathons, practicing yoga and doing a 30-mile backpacking trek only two months earlier. I had no known family history and never missed a screening in my short life of mammography.

So how did the cancer advance so far without detection, despite top-notch medical care in one of the biggest cities in America? The answer for me and millions of other women is the dense breast phenomenon - which, at long last, is finally becoming a part of the conversation around women's health.

Elizabeth L Silver is the author of the forthcoming novel The Majority (Riverhead), as well as the novel The Execution of Noa P Singleton and the memoir The Tincture of Time. Also an attorney, she teaches creative writing with the UCLA Writers Program and lives in Los Angeles with her family