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Millions of women were shocked and confused by new mammogram guidelines. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggested that routine mammograms should begin when a woman is 50 rather than 40. The physicians added even more controversy to the equation by recommending that the time between mammograms be stretched to two years. The independent experts added even more fuel to the fire when they said that the evidence for screening women older than 74 is inadequate.
These new guidelines triggered a firestorm of outrage from some quarters. The American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology objected to them. Some women who have had breast cancers detected through mammograms were distressed at the idea of forgoing them. Most women have been told that any sign of cancer requires surgery or other aggressive treatment. But there is growing awareness that some breast tumors do not warrant heroic measures because they don't threaten the woman's life. Just as with prostate cancer, some breast cancers just sit there so women die with them but not as a result of them. Our current screening methods do not allow doctors to determine which is which.
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I have had more than the usual dose of mammograms and radiation due to fibrocystic breasts and have opted to not have mammograms any more. Research shows that this technique is terribly inadequate and inaccurate.
For a while there was no other choice but mammograms because it was the only method of internal breast examination available. When I learned about another technology (it is not newer, it is just unknown to most women) called Breast Thermography and how much more effective a screening test for potential breast abnormalities it is, I decided that was for me, especially because it does not involve the pain of squeezing each breast into a pancake! It is painless procedure. Look it up on the internet.
My first breast thermoscan revealed some asymmetry and a hot spot--none of which would have been picked up on a mammogram. Follow up with ultrasound revealed just my normal fibrocystic tissue and that scan is now my baseline upon which comparison will be made for future thermoscans. Unfortunately, health insurance does not cover this proven method of investigation.
Health insurance companies and traditional radiology labs have their money all tied up in mammography equipment and personnel and won't venture from this norm--yet. It is worth it to me to pay out of pocket (about $150). Maybe someday, Breast Thermography will be accepted as a better method and covered by our health insurance companies.
Every family member I have that has and/or is battling breast cancer was detected in their 30's.
These new guidelines are a sign of the future.....just the tip of the iceberg.....as we begin to see the new "proposed health care plan" for our country.
Rather than being angry about the new recommendations, women should be outraged that they took so long, and that The American Cancer Society is still ignoring science by recommending routine screening for women in their 40's. I waited until I was 50 for my first mammogram (I'm 52 now) because I knew that the risks outweighed the benefits had I started sooner.
Routine annual screening of healthy women in their 40's may be a big money maker (the screening itself, as well as the treatment of cancers that may have resolved on their own after menopause), but it harms more women than it helps.
It's also important to note that these new guidelines pertain to annual screening of healthy, asymptomatic women. Obviously, women with lumps, high risk factors, etc. fall into a different category.
Breast cancer is an emotional issue because so many of us have friends or family members affected by it, and we're all terrified of getting it. What I hope we can all agree on is that we need better methods of screening, and of discerning which cancers need treatment and which do not.
More aggressive screening did not change overall death rates.
For the population that is. OK if you're the population.
Not so ok if you're the woman who gets an aggressive cancer in her 40's.
That's what health statistics and actuarials are about.
The public will not understand this, mostly because there is widespread illiteracy when it comes to statistics. Add to that the fact that everything now is politicized (from "it's hot today" to shopping at walmart). Instant polarized opinion forms like a hard set freeze, there's not much hope that this will be properly understood.
Thank goodness I had the mammogram 15 years ago which showed a 'shadow' and instead of waiting another 6 months for a repeat, I did the personal check and found the pea size object and called the doctor. Had a lumpectomy and radiation...if I had waited, I am sure the whole outcome would have been heartbreaking. I will continue to have the diagnostic mammogram forever and hope for the inclusion of the thermoscan into the health care system...