for an elegant explanation from a British physician about why she doesn't attend for breast screening and about communicating the risks of screening mammography (you can't read the whole article without paying, but you can get an idea of the debate going on in Britan). They are much more advanced on the issue of informed consent than we are in the US. The links to other articles and to responses to the article are also very informative.
The advocates of screening repeat things like "Maybe you won't lose your breast if you get screened and it's caught early", but you are far more likely to have a mastectomy if you are screened than if you only go for a mammogram if you have a symptom. Yes, screening mammography makes you at least 20% MORE likely to lose your breast. Many times tiny changes are present in more than one place in the breast, so the whole thing comes off. It it honestly, truly, not clear if these tiny changes will lead to problems if left alone - but they just can't tell. There is plenty of information on this in the links cited above. The sources are some of the leading researchers in the whole world - all of them doctors.
Everyone should decide for themselves what is best for them as far as screening, and not be bullied or pushed into something that may have risks that outweigh any possible benefits. We need correct, clear information, and the sources in some of the posts above are great.
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Please see
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/338/jun23_1/b2529
for an elegant explanation from a British physician about why she doesn't attend for breast screening and about communicating the risks of screening mammography (you can't read the whole article without paying, but you can get an idea of the debate going on in Britan). They are much more advanced on the issue of informed consent than we are in the US. The links to other articles and to responses to the article are also very informative.
The advocates of screening repeat things like "Maybe you won't lose your breast if you get screened and it's caught early", but you are far more likely to have a mastectomy if you are screened than if you only go for a mammogram if you have a symptom. Yes, screening mammography makes you at least 20% MORE likely to lose your breast. Many times tiny changes are present in more than one place in the breast, so the whole thing comes off. It it honestly, truly, not clear if these tiny changes will lead to problems if left alone - but they just can't tell. There is plenty of information on this in the links cited above. The sources are some of the leading researchers in the whole world - all of them doctors.
Everyone should decide for themselves what is best for them as far as screening, and not be bullied or pushed into something that may have risks that outweigh any possible benefits. We need correct, clear information, and the sources in some of the posts above are great.
August 3, 2009 - 5:27pmThis Comment
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