Mammograms and Breast Cancer Screening: the Latest Boogyman
Posted: Wednesday, November 18, 2009
by Joyce Dunn
If you believe what you hear and read in the media, every woman in America is up in arms over the new recommended guidelines for having a mammogram.
For years now, the recommendation has been that women should get a yearly mammogram, beginning at age 40, along with doing monthly breast self exams. That has now changed to having a mammogram every two years, beginning at age 50, providing there is no family history of breast cancer. The validity of self exams is also being questioned.
What we don't hear are stories similar to a woman I know. She was faithful about her yearly mammograms and monthly self exams. When she noticed a small lump a few months after her last mammogram, she made an appointment with her doctor, and had a double mastectomy a short time later.
What is also not being stressed is that these are recommended guidelines, not a written-in-stone edict preventing women from getting yearly mammograms.
It has also been suggested that these new guidelines have been encouraged by the insurance industry so they can avoid paying for so many mammograms. Given the insurance industries track record, especially in paying for preventative care, this accusation is understandable. Probably not true, but understandable.
What is also not being stressed by the media is that these guidelines are based on statistics. Statistics that take into account the many false positives of mammograms that resulted in further needless tests and procedures. Once again the media is presenting a worst case scenario, rather than rationally presenting all sides.
Medicine is not an exact science. Our bodies don't operate like a piece of machinery. There are many factors that contribute to disease, many that are poorly understood, or not understood at all. What works for one person may not work for everyone.
We seem to be too willing to accept every worst case scenario as fact, and turn over our decision making to someone else. We need to start demanding more rational reporting from the media, along with doing some investigating on our own, then base our decisions on that and on our own gut level' feeling, rather than accepting any recommendation as gospel.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)Thanks Joyce, for writing such a level-headed assessment of this situation. It seems like many believe that they are being forbidden to get yearly mammograms. I am one of those women who has no family history anywhere of any kind of breast cancer. Also, due to being self-employed, my health insurance is such that I pay for my own preventive care, so having yearly mammograms is pretty expensive. Not, of course, worth risking my health, but these guidelines seem a lot more sensible for me and others like me.Hi Jean, Glad you liked the article. Common sense is always a good idea, isn't it? :)
Thanks for writing a cool article.What a nice compliment. Thanks
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