Mammograms - do they really save lives ?

Cut Your Breast Cancer Risk by Skipping Mammograms

 

Unfortunately, many women are completely unaware that the science simply does not back up the use of routine mammograms as a means to prevent breast cancer death.

 

 

The primary hazard of conventional 2D imaging is ionizing radiation. According to a 2010 study,² annual screening using digital or screen-film mammography on women aged 40–80 years is associated with an induced cancer incidence and fatal breast cancer rate of 20-25 cases per 100, 000.

This means annual mammograms CAUSE 20-25 cases of fatal cancer for every 100,000 women getting the test. Now, 3D tomosynthesis also exposes you to ionizing radiation—and much more of it!

 

First, in order to achieve the three-dimensional image, the machine moves in an arc around your breast, taking multiple x-rays along the way, which are then computed together into a 3D image. Second, women are still advised to get a conventional 2D mammogram.

How is this addressing the hazards of breast cancer screening using ionizing radiation?

Well, it’s not. After all, that’s what the cancer screen is supposed to do, yet studies have repeatedly shown that mammography causes more widespread harm than good, and has not resulted in reduced breast cancer mortality rates. The hope is that these 3D images will boost the accuracy of diagnosing cancer; alas... this is probably not going to happen.

Why?

Because there’s no way to tell if a little spot on an x-ray (3D or not) is actually cancerous or benign. As image technologies have improved, false positives have increased along with it. Furthermore, what good will it do to identify more and more tiny tumors if the incidence of cancer starts to skyrocket as a result of ever increasing amounts of radiation exposure?

 

“The most effective way to decrease women’s risk of becoming a breast cancer patient is to avoid attending screening,” writes Peter C. Gotzche, MD of The Nordic Cochrane Centre and author of Mammography Screening: Truth, Lies and Controversy. "Mammography screening is one of the greatest controversies in healthcare, and the extent to which some scientists have sacrificed sound scientific principles in order to arrive at politically acceptable results in their research is extraordinary. In contrast, neutral observers increasingly find that the benefit has been much oversold and that the harms are much greater than previously believed.”

 

Only ONE in 2,000 Women Undergoing Regular Mammogram Screening Will Benefit from it

 

So what are your chances of being that lucky person who actually benefits from regular mammograms? According to recent findings by the Nordic Cochrane Center, only ONE out of 2,000 women screened regularly for 10 years will actually benefit from screening due to early detection of breast cancer.

 

Meanwhile, 10 healthy women (out of those 2,000 screened for a decade) will be misdiagnosed, turned into cancer patients, and will be treated unnecessarily. These women will have either a part of their breast or the whole breast removed, and will typically receive radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. This treatment (for a cancer that was non-existent) subsequently increases their risk of dying from complications from the therapy and/or from other diseases associated with radiation and chemo, such as heart disease and cancer. So, to recap, in order for mammographic breast screening to save ONE woman's life:

• 2,000 women must be screened for 10 years
• 200 women will get false positives, and
• 10 will receive surgery and/or chemotherapy even though they do not actually have cancer

Just because you were treated for cancer does not mean you’re a cancer survivor. If you really didn’t have cancer to begin with, then you’re really just a “cancer treatment survivor.” Yet all women treated for cancer who survive become part of the “cancer survivor” statistic...

 

By some estimates, up to 20% of all breast cancers diagnosed in the United States annually are actually linked to the cumulative radiation effects of mammograms! 

 

Thermography = a safe alternative to mammograms

 

Breast thermography is a non-invasive, radiation free monitoring of breast health.

 

What to do if you have a thermogram and it detects a suspicious mass? At this point, you will need to find a doctor who will order a breast ultrasound. Usually, doctors will not order an ultrasound without a mammogram. You will have to ask around from your friends and family to find an open minded doctor who understands the risks associated with mammograms and who will order you a breast ultrasound with no mammogram required.

 

    

 

The truth about mammograms as a significant contributor to breast cancer will gradually become more widely known and eventually, the tide of public opinion will force their removal as a breast cancer screening test. This finally happened with Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), but it took 40 years for the truth to finally come out. When the truth about mammography madness finally makes the Evening News, make sure you aren’t one of the women who look back and regret not stopping sooner! 

 

Source: www.mercola.com ,  www.breastthermography.com