In a letter written last week to U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-Connecticut), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided a timeline on the agency's expected rollout of final new breast density notification rules. In 2019, FDA proposed rules that would require screening mammography providers to notify women in reports written in lay language whether they have dense breasts and whether they may need additional screenings to find breast cancer.

The proposed rule would require the "lay summary" to screening patients to include a prescribed paragraph on the significance of breast density. The proposed regulations would also establish four categories for reporting breast tissue density in the mammography report that is provided to the patient’s referring healthcare provider. This is significant because dense breast tissue is known to be one of the factors that increases the chances that a woman will develop breast cancer, and thus is considered to be a risk factor for breast cancer.

Currently, laws are in place in 38 states and the District of Columbia to require some level of breast density notification to patients after having received a mammogram. But not every state with such laws requires mammographers to notify patients of their personal breast density status. If the FDA's rule is promulgated as proposed, every US mammography facility will be required to provide their patients information about their breast density, if applicable.

FDA advised Rep. DeLauro that they are optimistic that the final rule will publish before the end of the 2022 calendar year or by early 2023.