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The "should we shouldn't we" debate continues in regards to routine breast cancer screening, with new research from Harvard School of Public Health(HSPH), indicating that between 15% and 25% of cases areoverdiagnosed. Routine mammograms have become the norm since the late 1980s, andhave been thought to be the frontline in the fight against breastcancer. Women over 40 generally have a yearly screening. However,more recently physicians and patients alike have begun to questionthe necessity of blasting the breasts with X-Rays every year, notto mention putting women through the discomfort of the examinationwhich is fairly aggressive on the breast themselves, and somewhatinvasive to the patient psychologically. False positives can alsolead to a great deal of stress on the patient, as well as unnecessary biopsies and furtherunneeded doctor's appointments and tests. With new cancer medicine on the market, the detractors of breast cancer screeningare saying that the disease is more easily treated, and that manywomen are far more aware of checking their breasts regularly,making the routine mammograms a costly and unnecessary exercise inpublic health. The Havard study was made from data of women in Norway, and leadauthor Mette Kalager, a visiting scientist at HSPH and a researcherat the Telemark Hospital in Norway clarifies her work : "Mammography might not be appropriate for use in breast cancerscreening because it cannot distinguish between progressive andnon-progressive cancer ... Radiologists have been trained to findeven the smallest of tumors in a bid to detect as many cancers aspossible to be able to cure breast cancer. However, the presentstudy adds to the increasing body of evidence that this practicehas caused a problem for women - diagnosis of breast cancer thatwouldn't cause symptoms or death." Kalager goes on to make the valid point that her findings shouldpush women and their doctors to be well-informed and balanced intheir approach. Now that the three-decade public health drive toeducate and screen the population for breast cancer (which isrelatively easily treated if caught early on), has matured,potential benefit from routine mammograms should be offset againstits drawbacks. These can include mental distress, biopsies,surgeries, or chemotherapy and hormone treatments for disease thatwould never have caused symptoms. Kalager and her team analyzed data from nearly 40,000 women withinvasive breast cancer in Norway. Nearly 8,000 of them werediagnosed during the 10-year roll out of the Norwegian BreastCancer Screening Program, which began in 1996, for women ages 50through 69. The program in Norway was rolled in gradually, soresearchers were able to compare those that were screened againstthose that were not. They also looked at data from before the 1996roll out, going back to 1986, to look at diagnoses of breast cancerin women that had no routine screening. Their idea, which makes good sense, was that if routine screeningwas as successful as its advocates claim, then the number of latestage diagnoses should have fallen, quite considerably.Unfortunately, this was not the case - what they did find was agreat deal of over diagnosis: 7,793 women diagnosed with breast cancer through participation inthe screening program 7,793 women diagnosed with breast cancer through participation inthe screening program For every 2,500 women invited to screening, 2,470 to 2,474 willnever be diagnosed with breast cancer and 2,499 will never die frombreast cancer Only one death from breast cancer will be prevented But 6 to 10 women out of 2500, will be overdiagnosed, and treatedwith surgery, radiation therapy, and possibly chemotherapy withoutany benefit. The numbers are actually quite appalling, harming between six andten patients to save just one, and are by no means within areasonable margin of error. On the other hand, recent research from Holland has shown their national screening program to be quite successfulin preventing breast cancer. It is therefore worth balancing bothpoints of view and seeing that perhaps the truth lies somewhere inthe middle of the two arguments. Give the patients the option forroutine screening, present them with the benefits and drawbacks,educate them to examine themselves more often, and when positiveresults do come back from routine screening, know that they mightnot present the full picture. Written by Rupert Shepherd Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. I am an expert from audio-djequipment.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Commercial Ceiling Speakers , DJ Audio Mixer, Pro PA Speaker,and more.
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