An independent federal task force recently publicized its findings regarding mammograms, recommending that women reduce their screenings to once every two years.
On November 17, 2009, in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force published a document which concluded that mammography reduces breast cancer fatalities in women ages 39-69, despite the fact that it yields a substantial amount of false-positives. The task force does, however, claim that data is insufficient to support continual screening in women over 74. In the article Screening For Breast Cancer, the U.S. Preventative Task Force recommends against routine screenings, addressing the likelihood of potential negatives and harms associated with routine mammography.
Mammograms and Harmful Ionizing Radiation
A mammogram is an X-Ray-produced image of the breasts, which can reveal abnormalities, growths, or tumors which are otherwise undetectable or obscured. In order to achieve this image, mammograms require the use of ionizing radiation at levels much higher than the typical X-Ray.
It is this ionizing radiation which is cause for debate in the medical field. The federal task force has concluded in its recent research that the mammogram can be a useful tool in discovering breast cancer. However, Samuel S Epstein, MD, argues against this finding; in his research, he has discovered that the mammogram is actually responsible for causing and/or exacerbating the initial stages of breast cancer. The radiation, he explains in his book The Politics of Cancer, is administered in such high quantities that the especially sensitive tissues of the female breasts are easily manipulated by every absorbed dose of mammogram radiation.
Mammograms Are Linked as a Cause of Breast Cancer
In his book The Politics of Cancer, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein discredits the effectiveness of the mammogram in preventing breast cancer fatalities, and attributes it as a significant cause of breast cancer in women. He reasons that pre-menopausal breasts are highly sensitive to the cumulative carcinogenic effects of mammogram radiation. In addition, there are women who carry the A-T gene, which increases the vulnerability of the breast tissue to such radiation. There are also the dangers associated with the compression of the breast during the mammogram procedure. According to some health practitioners, this painful process of forcing the breast between two parallel plates could cause cancer cells to metastasize from the breast tissue and into other parts of the body.
False Positives and Female Psychological Responses to Mammogram Procedures
Anxiety, distress, and other psychological responses induced by the process of breast cancer mammography screenings are minimal, according to studies referenced by the U.S Preventative Task Force in its November 17, 2009 publication. But the fact that the mammogram produces false positives in women is a phenomenon which is directly linked as a primary factor of stress and grief. The frequency of false positives and misdiagnosis is also further proof that the mammogram is not as effective in detecting the early stages of breast cancer as it has been commonly believed. In his book, Samuel S Epstein, MD, explains that the routine screening of women age 40 to 50 statistically yields inaccurate results, where the presence of breast cancer is either missed or some neutral abnormality is diagnosed as breast cancer, thus subjecting the patient to unnecessary follow-up procedures.
Self-Examinations, Safer Alternatives Recommended Over Mammograms
Dr. Samuel Epstein and other medical professionals, including Burten Golderg, author of Alternative Medicine, recommends that mammograms be avoided by pre-menopausal women altogether, as the exposure to this radiation increases the potential risks of developing breast cancer. Although the American Cancer Society still recommends that women be routinely screened, there is a host of medical-based evidence which counsels women to engage in monthly routine self-examinations and screening without exposure to radiation, such as the much more accurate method of thermography. These, says Dr. Burton Goldberg, are safe and effective alternatives to identifying breast cancer.
Rasham Nassar - Rasham Nassar is an emerging writer from the California Bay Area. A graduate from the University of California at Berkeley, Rasham's ...
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