At the moment breast cancer is the second highest cause of death in women, after lung cancer. As a consequence, annual breast mammograms have become common for ladies over 40, or anyone at heavy risk of getting this dangerous, disfiguring condition.
Now that programs like this are established, experts had expected that the number of cases of complicated breast cancer would drop off, but that's not occuring.
Rather the incidence of breast cancer appears to have risen since widespread screening became part of our annual exams. Why?
Girls know that early identification of breast cancer can save lives, but that doesn't mean going for that yearly mammogram any less stressful or uncomfortable.
We endure the tests as we've been told we want to find piles when they're too small to feel or bring symptoms, before they have got an opportunity to increase and cause difficulty.
But do all cancers lead to complications?
Late last year a large Norwegian research of mammography screening for breast cancer discovered that some aggressive cancers may spontaneously regress given time, leaving no obvious sign that they were even present in a lady's body.
Makes you consider, now that we are able to screen for it, if this type of cancer isn't over diagnosed or over handled.
This latest BMJ report mentioning an over-diagnosis rate for aggressive breast cancer of 35% could really have you re-considering that annual mammogram.
Besides this type of cancer, over-diagnosis has also been discussed for carcinoma of the prostate as well as neuroblastoma, melanoma, thyroid cancer and lung cancer.
The newest work on over-diagnosis comes from analysts out of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen.
The researchers analyzed the results of studies that lasted a 14-year period. 7 years before public mammography screenings were available, and 7 years after government administered mammography-screening programs were in place in 5 different countries ( Great Britain, Canada, New South Wales, Australia, Manitoba, Sweden and areas in Norway )
They uncovered an over-diagnosis rate of 52% for all cancers, 35% for intrusive breast cancer.
The info indicates an increase in breast cancer cases shortly after the screening programs were instituted.
What this work counsels, as did the Norwegian research before it, that maybe not all cancers need to be treated, some may grow too slowly to affect a patient, while others may regress naturally.
It is important to know that no doctor or current screening method can tell the difference between a cancer that is's dangerous and one that isn't be.
In a BMJ editorial that's's released with the research, professor of drugs Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Research understands the issue of over-diagnosis, understanding the shock and fear a woman lives with after being given such news by her doctor.
Surgery and chemotherapy bring on their own set of problems that are physically demanding and emotionally draining, and an appalling trial for patients and families. Especially those whose cancers may not have required treatment at all.
While this latest study is still not an reason, or advice, to postpone your annual mammogram, it does raise some troubling questions.
Until we all know more, each lady has to decide for herself whether to keep on with annual breast mammograms, but it is clear that screening has let us uncover earlier cancers and start treatment earlier and save many lives. - 29881
Now that programs like this are established, experts had expected that the number of cases of complicated breast cancer would drop off, but that's not occuring.
Rather the incidence of breast cancer appears to have risen since widespread screening became part of our annual exams. Why?
Girls know that early identification of breast cancer can save lives, but that doesn't mean going for that yearly mammogram any less stressful or uncomfortable.
We endure the tests as we've been told we want to find piles when they're too small to feel or bring symptoms, before they have got an opportunity to increase and cause difficulty.
But do all cancers lead to complications?
Late last year a large Norwegian research of mammography screening for breast cancer discovered that some aggressive cancers may spontaneously regress given time, leaving no obvious sign that they were even present in a lady's body.
Makes you consider, now that we are able to screen for it, if this type of cancer isn't over diagnosed or over handled.
This latest BMJ report mentioning an over-diagnosis rate for aggressive breast cancer of 35% could really have you re-considering that annual mammogram.
Besides this type of cancer, over-diagnosis has also been discussed for carcinoma of the prostate as well as neuroblastoma, melanoma, thyroid cancer and lung cancer.
The newest work on over-diagnosis comes from analysts out of the Nordic Cochrane Centre in Copenhagen.
The researchers analyzed the results of studies that lasted a 14-year period. 7 years before public mammography screenings were available, and 7 years after government administered mammography-screening programs were in place in 5 different countries ( Great Britain, Canada, New South Wales, Australia, Manitoba, Sweden and areas in Norway )
They uncovered an over-diagnosis rate of 52% for all cancers, 35% for intrusive breast cancer.
The info indicates an increase in breast cancer cases shortly after the screening programs were instituted.
What this work counsels, as did the Norwegian research before it, that maybe not all cancers need to be treated, some may grow too slowly to affect a patient, while others may regress naturally.
It is important to know that no doctor or current screening method can tell the difference between a cancer that is's dangerous and one that isn't be.
In a BMJ editorial that's's released with the research, professor of drugs Dr. H. Gilbert Welch of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Research understands the issue of over-diagnosis, understanding the shock and fear a woman lives with after being given such news by her doctor.
Surgery and chemotherapy bring on their own set of problems that are physically demanding and emotionally draining, and an appalling trial for patients and families. Especially those whose cancers may not have required treatment at all.
While this latest study is still not an reason, or advice, to postpone your annual mammogram, it does raise some troubling questions.
Until we all know more, each lady has to decide for herself whether to keep on with annual breast mammograms, but it is clear that screening has let us uncover earlier cancers and start treatment earlier and save many lives. - 29881
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