From Fox News: "Most women don't need a mammogram in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50, a government task force said Monday. It's a major reversal that conflicts with the American Cancer Society's long-standing position.
Also, the task force said breast self-exams do no good and women shouldn't be taught to do them."...But the government panel of doctors and scientists concluded that getting screened for breast cancer so early and so often leads to too many false alarms and unneeded biopsies without substantially improving women's odds of survival.
"The benefits are less and the harms are greater when screening starts in the 40s," said Dr. Diana Petitti, vice chair of the panel.
However, the American Cancer Society disagrees strongly: "This is one screening test I recommend unequivocally, and would recommend to any woman 40 and over," the society's chief medical officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, said in a statement"...."That stance "is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives, just not enough of them," he said. The cancer society feels the benefits outweigh the harms for women in both groups."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,575354,00.html
First, why would the government say that women should not be giving themselves self-exams is just outrageous. It is called preventable medicine. Yes, there are times when a woman given themselves a breast exam feel something and it is a false alarm. But there are times when it is not and the woman is the first to know when something is not right and the government wants to take that out of the woman's hand (bad pun) and let a professional do it.
And what about those times when a young woman has breast cancer and yet the government says they should examine themselves or get a mammogram until they are 50. Yup, you are screwed.
This is what government health insurance will do for you and women, you are getting screwed. Don't worry, guys, we are next when we are told not to give self exams for testicular cancer and screw the prostrate cancer tests.
Sunrise — 5:59, 5:59, 6:00, 6:20.
6 hours ago
One thing the news story omitted is that exposure to radiation from mammograms increases the risk of future cancers. It isn't just the discomfort and expense of extra screenings that is being weighed against the potential life-saving benefit, but the actual health risk from those extra screenings. It is possible that annual mammograms from age 40 to 50 will cause more cancers than they detect. That is the point of the study.
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