Quote Originally Posted by melissam View Post
What bothers me about this is that this is the best tool we have for screening breast cancer. This is a disease that affects a huge number of women, and we're told that early detection is the best way to prevent death from breast cancer. Yet, the screening tool is bad enough that they now think its risks outweigh its benefits until women are over 50. And then it's only useful every 3 years.

Oh, and all that self-checking every month stuff -- no, never mind, it's not useful either. And if I read correctly, they're thinking that breast exams performed by a doctor aren't that helpful either.

Ahem. Pardon my language here, but WTF?

Is someone working on a better screening tool? Until we get one, this is the best shot we have at preventing breast cancer, so I'm a little pissed about the experts recommending that we limit the use of this tool.
I couldn't really put my finger on why this was bothering me so much, but you hit the nail on the head for me. I'm only 26 so maybe (hopefully) by the time I'm 40 there will be better means of detection and treatment. This just makes me feel confused and somewhat helpless. After watching my Mom's best friend battle breast cancer for over 10 years after late detection and seeing the pain her daughter faced and continues to face after she passed away this July, I can't help but feeling this is all too statistical.