Re: Negative aspects of breast screening
Originally Posted by
mesco m
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You also say that, in your opinion women should not have a mammogram unless they suspect there is something wrong. In some cases that would be far too late.
What is your evidence for that statement.
You need to be able to show that aggressive Breast Cancers respond well to early diagnosis and treatment and that the rate of overdiagnosis
You are going against everything that the medical profession are trying to promote. Early diagnosis saves lives.
That's why it's important people actually are told the truth. That is indeed what they say. It's a pity the facts don't support that claim.
50 year old woman attending a screening has a 5.5% probability of being accurately informed she has breast cancer. If she doesn't attend a screening she has a 1 in 1000 chance (0.1%) of being diagnosed with breast cancer in the next year.
If these are accurate then not attending a screening appears a no brainer - or am I missing something?
Do you feel the same about cervical smear tests?
I've not researched that issue.
The big difference is that the more mammography screening you have the greater the radiation load and when combined with other unavoidable sources of radiation exposure the greater the risk. So more mammography more Breast cancer.
I'd bet that Cervical smears, although perhaps not fun, are not in themselves harmful. With Mammography the crucial aspect is the ability of the radiographer to interpret accurately the image and as the evidence shows that to be something of a toss up 50<>50 it's a bit of a gamble.
I wouldn't expect there to be any link between an increase in the number of smears and an increase in the risk of cervical cancer.
It's more likely that the more smears a woman had the more likely a cancer would be detected and treated so survival would be improved.