Crisco co-hosts Are You Dense Day

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Joseph Crisco
Joseph Crisco

HARTFORD — State Sen. Joseph Crisco, Jr. (D-17) and a bipartisan group of legislators co-hosted Are You Dense Day in the Legislative Office Building Oct. 30.

Are You Dense Day was planned to honor Connecticut’s global leadership in breast density legislation’ and raise awareness about how dense breast tissue can mask developing breast cancer from routine mammograms, according to a press release issued by Crisco’s office. The event featured presentations from two radiologists who described the enhanced value of additional screenings for women with dense breast tissue. 

Connecticut has enacted a series of laws requiring notification of women who have dense breast tissue and insurance coverage for additional breast cancer screenings, the release said.

“Breast density is a well-established predictor of breast cancer risk, but dense breast tissue masks tumors because they look alike on a routine mammogram,” said Crisco, co-chair of the legislature’s Insurance and Real Estate Committee, in the release. “Forty percent of all women are said to have dense breast tissue and yet doctors speak to less than 10 percent of their women patients about it. We have so much more work to do to raise awareness of this critical component of early detection, diagnosis and treatment.”