Is Everyone Up to Date on Mammograms???

[OakLeaf]

Whoa. The research is interesting, but the NYT blog post has some red herrings: the idea some women might believe that the mammogram prevents cancer for one.

I see that kind of magical thinking all the time. In October especially, but year round. And the American Cancer Society, for one, quietly promotes it. Its Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, was just quoted earlier this month citing mammograms in a list of things that can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

cancer hits fit, health-conscious people, too

Exactly. Which is why we fit, health-conscious people need to make informed decisions about our health care, and put at least as much thought into it as unhealthy people do. Having a test because everyone is doing it - and assuming it will be negative so not having a plan of action if it is positive - is no way to take care of ourselves.


I'm not at all saying everyone has to make the same decisions I have. I'm just urging everyone to spend at least the same amount of mental energy on the decision whether or not to have a mammogram, as they do on the decision about buying a new car (hashed in depth in any number of threads here).

[indysteel]

I've read that NYT's article a few times since it was first published, and it always leaves me somewhat confused. Just a couple points that confuse me:

It states that most slow growing cancers would be found with or without screening. Does that mean most of them can be found because the lump ultimately becomes palpabable? And does that assume that one engages in self examination or otherwise regularly visits a doctor who exams your breast. Does anyone know the percentage of women who actually do? I do, but I'm guessing a lot of people don't.

The article's real beef--it seems to me--is with the overtreatment of more benign forms of breast cancer. Is the real issue, then, with the diagnostic or with the treatment? If it's the latter, then I don't know that we gain much by not addressing that issue head on, rather than by criticizing the diagnostic, because there remains that admittedly small segment of people who do catch an aggressive form of breast cancer early through mammography and live to tell the tale. If you're fearful of being in that group--like I am--then mammography makes sense, as imperfect as it is.
But I agree that it also make sense not to overtreat breast cancer, and it certainly makes sense to make clear that mammography doesn't prevent breast cancer.

But all that said, I'm not sure I'm reading the article correctly as to this point. I do want to understand the pros and cons better.