Breast screening recommendations? Phooey!
Don't be misled; get screened early.
I know I promised one more installment of Terry McBride’s interview, but I feel I need to address the ridiculous recommendations for breast cancer screening released recently.
A government task force has ignored the American Cancer Society’s and most doctors’ recommendations for getting annual mammograms at age 40 and doing self breast exams. They’re saying you don’t need to get mammograms until you’re 50 and to do it every other year. And don’t bother doing a self breast exam!
Apparently they are concerned it might “traumatize” women who could receive false-positive screenings. According to their report, screening prevents only one cancer death for every 1,904 women, age 40 to 49, compared with one death for every 1,339 women age 50 to 74, and one death for every 377 women age 60 to 69.
I used my calculator to figure out just how many deaths they’re talking about in 40+ age group. With the US population at 304,059,724 (US Census 2008), 1 in 1,904 translates into 150,969 deaths. That’s a lot of young women leaving behind husbands, young children, friends …
Look at me. I was just 38 when I was diagnosed. I had no family history of breast cancer. Like most young survivors I know, I found it by a self breast exam. After all, mammography is not usually an option at that age.
I’m turning 47 this April, and I wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t do a self breast exam and subsequent mammogram. More than 11,000 young women (under age 40) a year are diagnosed with breast cancer. The younger you are, the more aggressive the cancer. I’m living proof. My cancer came back in an advanced form in 2008. Don’t these lives matter?
According to the American Cancer Society the likelihood of developing breast cancer in the next 10 years when you’re 40 is 1 out of 229 people. That seems like pretty good odds to me!
The Young Survival Coalition (www.youngsurvival.org) takes it a step further, recommending better screening methods than mammograms for young women . Since young women have denser breast tissue, mammograms often miss tumors. I’m with them all the way. My hope is that my daughter will never have to face what I have faced.
I hate to say this, but I think this recommendation is cost-driven. I’m all for keeping health care costs down, but not at the expense of people’s lives. The good news is that insurers are still going to pay for screenings starting at age 40. I hope it stays that way. So go out there and get your boobs checked.
What are your thoughts?
Jo says:
Hi Tami!
I have to say I’m very perplexed by the findings reported by the task force myself, but not for the same reasons. From what I have read, they’ve focused on the anxiety of false positives as their reason. Can that really be their strongest argument? I need to find a copy of their report. I’m not saying we should do away with mammography, but I have my suspicions about the efficacy for women age 40-49 – and it’s not due to the undo stress created by false positives.
Please understand – I have a sister with breast cancer and one that had a suspicious mammogram (both in their 40’s), so I was all over ways to get them back to good health. A freak accident caused me to look at the safety of mammograms (radiation, compression of cancerous tissue, etc.) and what I found was very alarming.
I did hours and hours of research on this very topic and some of the findings suggest: 1) mammograms can “cause” more cancer than they detect in that age category. 2) While radiation exposure is small, it is cumulative. Some say it increases your odds 1-2% each time depending on how many films are taken. What does that mean for you in 10 years? 3) The mortality rate for women who found something because of a mammogram was no lower than women who found the lump themselves.
If you read reports and articles from health advocates in other countries they think we have gone “mammography crazy” in this country. And I hate to say it, but mammography is a multi-billion (with a B) dollar industry.
Mammography is pretty much a sacred cow for many groups, so my comments may not be welcome, but I remind you my only goal was to protect myself and my own family. It takes some time to do all the research, but don’t let someone else make such an important health choice for you. It’s rarely a black and white issue.
I also agree with those at http://www.youngsurvival.org – there needs to be better screening options, especially for younger women. The harsh reality is this; those vested in the mammography industry will spend millions to keep their competition at bay. These same groups also have a lot of control over many non-profits, so it’s going to be up to us to push these technologies forward.
For me, after a lot of consideration I selected breast thermography as a screening tool and if I did feel a lump I would push to have an MRI.
Lisa Hicks says:
Tami, I agree with you conpletely! I was diagnosed with breast cancer when I was 37. I found the lump myself during a breast self exam. I was appalled and angered by the new recommendations of this task force. How ridiculous these finding are!!!! I, too, would be dead now if not for BSE and screening mammogram! For those who want to read the full report, below is the link to the web site for the task force.
http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstf/uspsbrca.htm
tamilb says:
I wanted to thank all of you for your comments and to let you know I left off a 0 in the number of deaths I calculated. It was actually 150,969 cancer deaths for women 40-49 given their calculations. I agree that mammography is not full-proof, but it’s something and to discourage self breast exams should be a crime.
Also, I wanted to add that there was not one oncologist or breast cancer specialist on the panel. The closest thing was a pediatrician.
Jo, I’ve always been told that the radiation was nominal and from my point of view, it beats not catching the cancer. I agree there needs to be a better technology for younger women. I guess everyone needs to make their own decision.