Flanagan Announces New Breast Cancer Detection Regs

State Sen. John Flanagan and JoAnn Pushkin, a local breast cancer survivor-turned-advocate, announced last week the passage of a state bill that they say will help the fight against breast cancer by detecting its presence in a particularly vulnerable group of women, by giving them information as early as possible.

The Breast Density Information Law passed both houses of the state legislature unanimously, and requires that mammography reports explain to patients with dense breast tissue in plain, non-technical language what that means, and the benefits of further potential screenings with doctors.

"Research indicates that every year in New York at least 2,500 women with dense breasts leave their mammograms being told the results are 'normal/negative' but who actually have invasive breast cancer- that would be found - if they were sent for screening ultrasounds," said Pushkin, whose cancer went undetected for five years due to dense breast tissue that obscured a tumor.