06/12/2017
This article published in October 2016 raises important questions. Detecting low stage breast cancers may not prevent many deaths compared to the damage it causes by way of false positive diagnoses is one conclusion they came to in this study.
Google's answer is this as of today:
"Finding breast cancer early reduces your risk of dying from the disease by 25-30% or more. Women should begin having mammograms yearly at age 40, or earlier if they're at high risk. Don't be afraid. ... The procedure is safe: there's only a very tiny amount of radiation exposure from a mammogram.Jun 14, 2016" Ref. www.breastcancer.org
The Swiss study does not deal with some assertions of the linked diarticle, which includes the notion that a mammogram can spread breast cancer via the pressure it creates on breast tissue. It also does not seem to address (at least in this press review) the issue of genetic and family history associated risk in determining how often or whether a women should be screened.
To be clearer than they were, most invasive breast cancers are "real cancer." That is, many of them progress and have the potential to metastasize if left untreated. What is called "low grade" invasive cancer may not be as aggressive and could potentially be treated more conservatively, at least in some patients. Low grade DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ - a low grade tumor confined to the breast ducts that has not invaded the underlying tissue) may also be a candidate for less aggressive therapy.
I think it's great there is an attempt to challenge what has become routine medical practice and bring scientific rigor to it as well as testing the limits of what could be done more conservatively and what cannot. This recently occurred in the prostate cancer realm as men were told that PSA screening could lead to many unnecessary procedures, particularly if the results were not interpreted properly.
Remember, it was not long ago (the late 80's) that women were having modified radical mastectomies instead of lumpectomies for very small cancers on the East Coast. California doctors were several years ahead of their East Coast colleagues on doing lumpectomies (less surgery).
If you believe women deserve such answers and improvements in diagnosis and therapy, be sure to voice your opinion to the President and to Congress on continued support for federally funded medical research. They listen to voters who care enough to speak up!
In 2013, the Swiss Medical Board, an independent health technology assessment initiative, was requested to prepare a review of mammography screening. The team of medical professionals included a medical ethicist, a clinical epidemiologist, a pharmacologist, an oncologic
