Your mammogram results: the patient letter, timelines and the breast density notice
What federal rules require facilities to tell you after a mammogram, how fast, what the assessment categories mean, and the standard breast density statement.
After a mammogram, federal rules require the facility to send you a summary of your results in plain language, within set deadlines, and since September 2024 that summary must include a standard statement about breast density. Knowing what to expect helps you notice if something has gone missing. This guide covers what the rules require. It is not medical advice; your doctor or the facility can explain what your own results mean for you.
Two reports: one for your doctor, one for you
The interpreting physician prepares a written report for each exam. FDA's MQSA rules set what it must contain: your name and an identifier, the date, the facility's name and location, the interpreting physician's name, an overall assessment in one of a fixed set of categories, and an assessment of breast density (21 CFR 900.12(c)). If you have a doctor, the facility sends the full report to that doctor. Separately, it must send you a summary written in lay terms.
How fast you should hear
- The lay summary must reach you within 30 calendar days of the exam.
- If the assessment is "Suspicious" or "Highly Suggestive of Malignancy," the facility must provide the lay summary within 7 calendar days of the final interpretation.
- If you do not name a healthcare provider, the facility must send you the full report as well as the lay summary, on the same timelines.
Many facilities send results much sooner, often through a patient portal. If you have not heard anything within 30 days, call the facility. Do not assume that no news is good news.
The assessment categories
MQSA requires every report to use one of these overall assessments: Negative; Benign; Probably Benign; Suspicious; Highly Suggestive of Malignancy; Known Biopsy-Proven Malignancy; Post-Procedure Mammogram for Marker Placement; or Incomplete: Need additional imaging evaluation or Incomplete: Need prior mammograms for comparison. These categories line up with the BI-RADS system that radiologists use. An "Incomplete" result is common after a first mammogram or when earlier images are not available, and it means more imaging or comparison is needed before a final assessment can be made.
The breast density statement
Breast tissue is made up of fatty tissue and fibroglandular tissue. On a mammogram, dense tissue looks white, as do many cancers, so dense tissue can make cancers harder to see. Under rules that took effect on September 10, 2024, every lay summary must say whether your breast tissue is dense or not dense, using wording set by FDA. If your tissue is not dense, the letter will say: "Breast tissue can be either dense or not dense. Dense tissue makes it harder to find breast cancer on a mammogram and also raises the risk of developing breast cancer. Your breast tissue is not dense. Talk to your healthcare provider about breast density, risks for breast cancer, and your individual situation."
If your tissue is dense, the letter will add: "In some people with dense tissue, other imaging tests in addition to a mammogram may help find cancers." Dense breast tissue is common and normal. Whether you should have additional imaging depends on your overall risk and is a decision to make with your healthcare provider; coverage for supplemental imaging also varies by insurance plan and state.
Being called back
Being asked to come back for more imaging after a screening mammogram, called a recall, is common, and most recalls do not lead to a cancer diagnosis. The follow-up may be additional mammogram views, an ultrasound or, less often, an MRI. Where this site can match a facility to a Medicare-certified hospital, its profile shows the hospital's recall rate from Medicare's measure OP-39: the share of screening mammograms for Medicare patients that were followed by diagnostic imaging within 45 days. Rates that are very low or very high can each prompt questions, which is why Medicare reports them, but a single number is not a verdict on a facility.
Your images and records
Facilities must keep your original mammograms and reports for at least 5 years, or at least 10 years if you have no further mammograms there, or longer if state law requires (21 CFR 900.12(c)(4)). If you ask, the facility must transfer your original images and reports to another facility, your doctor or you within 15 calendar days. Prior images matter: comparing with earlier mammograms helps the radiologist tell normal changes from new findings and can reduce recalls, so if you change facilities, arrange for your prior images to be sent.
Questions to ask after your results
- What was my overall assessment, and what does it mean for when I should have my next mammogram?
- Was my breast tissue dense, and does that change anything for me given my other risk factors?
- Were my prior mammograms used for comparison? If not, can you get them?
- If I need more imaging, can it be scheduled here, and how soon?
Write the answers down and keep your lay summaries together. They are useful if you change doctors or facilities.
If something seems wrong
- No letter within 30 days: call the facility and ask for your lay summary.
- Questions about what the results mean: ask your healthcare provider, or ask the facility whether a radiologist can talk with you.
- A concern about how the facility handled your exam or results: use the facility's complaint process, which MQSA requires; if that doesn't resolve it, contact its accreditation body.
You can confirm that any facility holds a current certificate on FDA's certified facility search. The National Cancer Institute's mammograms fact sheet explains screening and follow-up in more detail.
General information only, current as of the date above. The information on Mammography Index is not medical advice and does not replace a doctor, nurse, discharge planner or other qualified professional. Do not use it to make decisions about diagnosis or treatment. If you have a medical emergency, call 911. Rules and programs change; check the official sources linked in this guide.