Word: breasting
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...reaction in the medical community was immediate--and fierce. Critics argued that the methodology of the Danish review was flawed and that several studies were too hastily thrown out. Others pointed out that both mammography and breast cancer treatments are better now than they were in the 1970s and '80s, when some of those studies were conducted. Some breast cancer advocates have even wondered whether the Danish researchers might have had an economic or a political incentive to downplay the benefits of what are fairly expensive screening programs...
...date standards of what makes a good clinical trial, they concluded that five of the studies were so primitive or of such poor quality that their conclusions could not be trusted. Those five included ones that found that routine mammograms reduce a woman's risk of dying from breast cancer by 30%. The two remaining studies found no benefit. The authors' conclusion: there is no reliable evidence that women who get mammograms live any longer than women...
When you cut through all the arguments and counterarguments, what you realize is that everyone expects too much of mammograms. Even the best miss 10% to 15% of breast cancers. Mammograms are also associated with a high rate of false positives--particularly among younger women. In the U.S. only 2% to 11% of all "abnormalities" found in a routine screening actually turn out to be cancer. That translates into a lot of anxious women who are called back for another mammogram or advised to undergo either a needle aspiration or a biopsy. These can lead to problems such as scarring...
Despite these drawbacks, there are very real benefits to mammograms. The earlier a cancer is found, the more options a woman usually has with regard to treatment--something the Danish review did not address. Many women with smaller tumors, for example, may be able to forgo chemotherapy, opting for breast-sparing surgery and hormonal treatment. To these women, a few anxiety-provoking false positives may seem like a small price...
...left making decisions based on incomplete information. "We have to be honest about saying that [routine] mammography may not save your life," says Dr. Patricia Ganz, a professor at the schools of medicine and public health at UCLA. But it can give a woman who discovers she has breast cancer options she might not otherwise have. And who wouldn't want that...