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Study: 1.3 Million Women Overdiagnosed for Breast Cancer
A new study says that routine mammograms have caused more than a million U.S. women to receive “unnecessary and invasive cancer treatments over the last 30 years."
Gilbert Welch, of Dartmouth Medical School and Archie Bleyer of the Oregon Health & Science University, led this new study, which was published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, reports AFP.
Welch and Bleyer wrote: "We estimated that breast cancer was overdiagnosed — i.e., tumors were detected on screening that would never have led to clinical symptoms — in 1.3 million US women in the past 30 years. We estimated that in 2008, breast cancer was overdiagnosed in more than 70,000 women; this accounted for 31% of all breast cancers diagnosed.”
They said that the significant drop in breast cancer deaths was because of improvement in treatments, not early detection through mammograms.
The study encouraged women and doctors to consider the harmful effects of unnecessary radiation exposure, the anxiety associated with false-positive findings and the costs of additional imaging.
The government's Preventive Task Force said in 2009 that primary care physicians should not recommend mammograms to women under 40 years of age. At the time, the Obama administration was attacked by Republicans who tried to use the Preventive Task Force's advisory to undermine Obamacare, which had not yet been voted on.
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Comments
Hopefully anyone reading the
Hopefully anyone reading the above will review other reports of this research study. Mr. Allen has been obvious in his attempt to politicize this issue, but he has omitted information that women actually need to consider before abandoning screening that has saved many lives.
According to an article posted in the Boston Globe, the study yields "a controversial finding sure to provoke more heated debate over the benefits of the screenings."
The article went on to add, "But breast cancer specialists heatedly disputed the findings, with some calling the study 'junk science' and others questioning the size of the overdiagnosis harms estimated by the researchers.
"Dr. Leonard Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said that the findings 'must be viewed with caution' and that the society stands by its recommendation for women to have annual screening mammograms beginning at age 40. 'We find that the evidence supports the conclusion that mammography saves lives, and that the benefits of screening mammography outweigh the risks and harms.'"
Most important to note, "The new findings may leave women in a quandary, because some breast tumors caught early by mammography will turn out to be life-threatening, but doctors can’t tell which ones. Even the authors said women should continue to be offered mammograms."
http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2012/11/21/million-women-overdiagnosed-with-breast-cancer-due-mammograms-controversial-study-suggests/g2Rv3quMp3cVmn047Uia5M/story.html