LISA DESJARDINS: A sobering number, about one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

That's one reason doctors recommend women get a yearly mammogram beginning at age 45.

But for some women, mammograms won't detect their cancer, which is why, as Ali Rogin reports, a new FDA requirement could identify more breast cancer cases and save lives.

ALI ROGIN: Earlier this week, the FDA began requiring that all mammogram reports disclose information on a patient's breast density.

Higher breast density not only puts patients at higher risk of developing breast cancer, it can also make cancers more difficult to detect, meaning patients may require additional screening.

JoAnn Pushkin is the executive director of DenseBreast-info.org.

She's also an advocate and breast cancer survivor herself.

JoAnn, thank you so much for being here.

Why is breast density such a crucial thing to know about for anybody who has breasts?

JOANN PUSHKIN, Executive Director, DenseBreast-info.org: Well, they're common and normal, and most women have some level of breast density in their breasts.

But as density increases, so does the likelihood that a cancer will be missed if it's present.

And breast density, in and of itself is an independent risk factor for the development of breast cancer.

So for women with dense breasts, it can both hide cancer and increase their risk.

And so they certainly need to know this information.

ALI ROGIN: Now that these new FDA requirements have gone into effect, what does that mean for a woman?

Will it be that it's going to be in more plain English than it has or just that there's a standardized language that's going to be used?

JOANN PUSHKIN: Yes, both some state laws did not even tell the woman she had dense breasts.

Some did not tell her she was at increased risk.

So the new notification includes four components.

The first is that it definitively tells the woman if she has dense breasts.

The second is that it tells her it can hide cancer, that it does increase her risk, and that there are other tests that might detect cancers, that mammograms may miss, and she should certainly speak to her doctor about this additional screening.

What everyone should do from this point forward when they get their mammogram results, letter is read that paragraph carefully, because it will be new information for everyone in the way that it is worded and the content that it contains.

ALI ROGIN: And so if a woman does find out that she has dense breasts, what then, what should she do?

And what should she expect that her.

Physician would do?

JOANN PUSHKIN: So there is no one size fits all screening protocol.

Women really need to sit with their providers discuss breast density there.

Certainly there are other risk factors for developing breast cancer and have a discussion about what might be appropriate for her other imaging exams, such as ultrasound or MRI, are the two that are most typically recommended as additional screening tools after the mammogram.

ALI ROGIN: Now, of course, what led you to co-found DenseBreast-info.org, and go down this road of advocacy was your own experience with breast cancer and with breast density.

Tell me about your journey and how that led you down this path.

JOANN PUSHKIN: I was 45 years old, and at that point, had been getting mammograms since 40 every five years prior to that.

And of course, I never missed one, and I was a faithful patient, and exercised, ate healthy, had only one relative that had ever had breast cancer.

And then one day, though, during a self-exam, I feel alone.

I wasn't too concerned, because I had just had a very recent normal mammogram.

But of course, they tell you, if you feel something, to call your doctor.

And I certainly did.

And then I went and he felt the lump and sent me on, then for a diagnostic mammogram and for an ultrasound the very same day.

And now I'm waiting in that little room for them to come back, hopefully to give me the all clear.

And the tech comes in and says, oh, we, you know, we didn't detect anything.

And I was a little confused, because I knew I felt something, but it was a large facility with multiple waiting rooms, and I just assumed she'd come back into the wrong room.

And I said, Oh no, no, no, no, I'm the lady with the lumps away so big I can feel it.

And she said, Oh, that's going to be a hard fine for us.

You have extremely dense breasts.

And I remember sitting back and saying, what?

And I'm sent for the ultrasound, you know, 15 minutes later, and there it is, quite obviously.

So what was not visible at all on the mammogram was clearly detectable on the ultrasound.

ALI ROGIN: And you had been going routinely for mammograms up until that point, and your cancer was not detected.

Does that mean that if you had been aware of your breast density, your cancer may have been detected earlier?

JOANN PUSHKIN: Certainly because by size and stage, the cancer was estimated to have been growing for three to five years in my breast undetected, every single one of them by mammography, women are often shocked to learn that in a dense breast, a mammogram report reported to her as normal, negative or benign, does not reliably mean that cancer is not there.

ALI ROGIN: These updated guidelines are definitely going to help a lot of women find out more about their bodies.

But another hurdle remains, insurance coverage of additional screenings.

What is the state of that fight?

JOANN PUSHKIN: So generally, if a woman's doctor or her health provider says there is a medical need for her to have additional imaging, generally, her insurance will cover it, though copays and deductibles may apply.

Additionally, several states, 33 states right now, have passed laws for expanded coverage for breast imaging after a mammogram, again, not without copay and deductible necessarily, but they vary from state to state, and women really need a consistent standard for insurance coverage, just like with the FDA this week now has standardized the notification she's going to get.

Now, we need a standardized insurance coverage for women.

ALI ROGIN: JoAnn Pushkin, Executive Director of DenseBreast-info.org, and an advocate and breast cancer survivor.

Thank you so much for joining us.

JOANN PUSHKIN: Thank you.