Word: mammograms
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...MAMMOGRAM MUDDLE...
...fund a long-term dietary study and until the work is completed, the value of an ultralow-fat diet in preventing breast cancer will remain open to question. For women 40 or older, however, there is one bit of medical counsel that has almost unanimous approval: Get a mammogram. Now. And do it regularly...
...time a breast tumor is large enough to be felt as a lump, it is generally more than 1 cm (0.4 in.) in diameter and contains several billion cancer cells, some of which may have broken loose, circulated through the bloodstream and begun to infiltrate other organs. A mammogram can detect pinpoint tumors that are less than 0.5 cm (0.2 in.) across, often well before the process of metastasis has started. This is not to say that a manual exam by a doctor or the woman herself is a waste of time. Such exams can sometimes turn up tumors missed...
Adding to the confusion on mammography is the unfortunate fact that medicine's powerful professional societies cannot agree on what to recommend. The American Cancer Society urges a mammogram every one or two years for women between ages 40 and 49, and annually thereafter. The American College of Physicians disagrees, claiming that a mammogram is not "cost-effective" for women under 50, since only 20% of malignancies occur in these women...
...matters were not muddled enough, a storm has erupted in recent years over the uneven quality and accuracy of mammograms around the U.S. "Half the states do not have a licensing procedure for radiologic technologists. It could be the office receptionist pushing those buttons," warns Marie Zinninger, a quality-control specialist for the American College of Radiology. Another problem, according to the National Cancer Institute, is that General Electric, Philips and other manufacturers have flooded the market with mammography machines. Many wind up in the offices of doctors who lack the proper training in the use and maintenance of these...