One life is One too many.

I agree that one life is too many..............

However as a woman with low risk for breast cancer........I prefer to avoid screening mammogram under the age of 50. I find the cancer risk associated with having repeated yearly screening mammography for 10 years with the ability to actually detect any form of breast cancer to be rare, a risk I'm not willing to take.

If I was at high risk for breast cancer and under 50, I would think ultrasound would be far less toxic with far more useful results than screening mammography. Dense breast tissue looks like cancer on a mammogram. Dense breasts are not common in women over 50. Is it ok to expose women with dense breast tissue to a procedure (that is not risk freee) that detects cancers that are dense and look the same as non-cancer dense breast tissue?

I would think it would be far more beneficial to all women to advocate for better screening techniques and better ways to prevent breast cancer.

Clinical Research is rarely about the individual and always about the general population. How do you help the many without letting the few slip through the cracks?

Health care is complicated. It is a risk/benefit analysis with every decision made.

I would suggest that instead of arguing about 'one life is too many', that we work to find better screening methods. Until then, lets educate women and give them options that make sense in their lives. Yearly screening Mammography for for low risk women between 40-50 really makes no sense. (as to breast exams........laughing.......please let that be something the femme in my bed does something without me ever knowing...........laughin

The same panel that wants to eradicate mammograms in women under 50 also wants to put the brakes on teaching women to do self examination. I think that is ten kinds of lame.

Did you read the link to Susan Love's website that was 10 FAQ? She explains the research that has been done around BSE (breast self exam) and the reason for her stance against BSE. She herself has been involved in a whole bunch of breast cancer research and is a leading authority...and if you care she is a big ole dyke.

I think 'eradicate' doing mammograms on women under 50 is a bit over the top. High risk women will still be able to get screening mammograms with appropriate follow-up for suspicious results.

Again Dr Love explains the research and why it makes no sense to do screening mammograms on low risk women between 40-50 yrs old. It's about the density of breast tissue and the incidence of false positives in low risk women between 40-50 and the follow-up testing required if a radiologists thinks there might be a tumor. Dense breast tissue shows up white on mammogram and so do tumors. Hard to tell the difference. After age 50, women's breast tissue becomes far more fatty and shows up as gray and tumors are white. Much easier to read the mammogram.

This is not some new conspiracy by white men who don't give a shit about women's health. This has been discussed among women's health advocates and clinicians for at least 15 years. A good portion of the research has been done by women clinicians and radiologists.

It's about the risk/benefit analysis. Mammogram is not without risk, particularly if you are talking about yearly mammogram starting at age 40. 10 years of xray exposure that produces false positive results (and the awful I'm scared shitless I have breast cancer when I don't) and really has little benefit in low risk women.

There is some interesting data around how exposure to xray can cause cancer......

If i had to wait till i was 50 to get checked i would be dead. Found my lump 20 days after i turned 40, i'm 44 now and in remission. I had stage 2, Invaisive Ductal Carsinoma, Her2 -, ER/PR+, Braca Gene 1 and 2 (negative), partial hystro due to grapefruit sized cycst on ovaries at 42.

look people..........

No matter what your age if you find a lump you will get a mammogram and appropriate follow-up testing (ultra sound, biopsy). It is ludicrous to suggest otherwise and nothing in any recommendations I have ever read suggest anything else.

I am talking about routine yearly screening mammograms for low risk women.

Concerning BSE, let me see if I can explain my position a bit better. I don't like the ritualized search and destroy mindset of standing in front of the mirror, looking for visual defects in my breasts and then feeling around each breast looking for cancer. Just doesn't work for me.

That being said, over the years I have had two lumps in my breasts that required mammogram follow-up. Neither of them was found by doing the BSE. One I found while taking a shower....you know soap and water on the breast... and the other was found by a sexual partner.

The point is........know what your breasts feel like. If it works for you to do BSE, then by all means.....however I can't go with that looking for cancer mindset on a monthly basis. There are other far more positive ways to know your breasts.

Update

The run/walk went awsome today!
Thousands showed up and hundreds walked/ran.

I don't know the tally but I am sure it was a great amount to help.

Survival and Hope