Mammograms - DO IT! [View all]

[question everything]

Another report, yet, about the futility of mammograms.

If you are a woman, or have women that you care about in your life, don't listen to these reports.

"They" say that mammograms are as good as detecting something suspicious by touch. Yes, tell this to a woman whose cancer was just below her nipple. No one could feel it. Not the nurse, not the doctor, not the surgeon. And once she underwent the lumpectomy, she found out that it was a triple positive cancer. Receptors to estrogen and progesterone, but also elevation amount of a a nasty growth factor called HER2 that has been associated with a more frequent recurrence.

Tell this to a a woman whose cancer was located deep in her tissue, close to her rib cage. She forgot to schedule her annual mammogram once. But the reports tell us to schedule one every two years... When she was diagnosed, the cancer had already spread to some of her lymph nodes under her arm.

What most riles me, are three arguments that accompany such "reports."

The first, that really, only older women - older than 50 - should even get mammograms. Younger women do get breast cancer and in many cases - some may correct me here - it is often more aggressive with younger women - mid 30s.

Second, in many cases, the cancer that was found and removed would not have killed the woman. How do they know?

To the best of my knowledge - again, correct me if you know better - there are no specific markers, enzymes, metabolites, or other molecules that determine whether a cancer is a killer one or not. Either way, one has to find it, first, and remove it. They may be talking about DCIS but I am not aware of any further treatment - radiation or chemo - of DCIS cancer.

Last - the concern about "false positive:" A woman has to go through biopsy only to find out that that suspicious image was not cancer, after all. All the while being worried sick. Hey! This kind of patronizing attitude belonged - maybe - in the 1950s. Women are big girls. They can handle it. They should be allowed to make their own decisions.

OK, done with the rant. Just do it.

Oh, and if the woman has an Eastern European Jewish ancestry, consider being tested for the BRCA genes. The complete test is expensive - about $3,500 - paid by the insurance if family members were affected. But there is a cheaper test - about $600 - aimed to detect only three mutations that are most common among men and women with Eastern European Jewish ancestry.

Now I am done.

Phew!