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Are X-Ray Mammography Screenings Finding Cancers That Are Not There?

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Message Sayer Ji

Overdiagnosis is a huge problem, discussed in greater depth here:

"Overdiagnosis plays havoc with our understanding of cancer statistics. Because overdiagnosis effectively changes a healthy person into a diseased one, it causes overestimations of the sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of screening tests and the incidence of disease ( 13 ). As the MLP and a recent analysis of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) 1 data illustrate ( 14 ), overdiagnosis also markedly increases the length of survival, regardless of whether screening or associated treatments are actually effective. However, overdiagnosis does not reduce disease-specific mortality because treating subjects with pseudodisease does not help those who have real disease. Consequently, disease-specific mortality is the most valid end point for the evaluation of screening effectiveness."  [ Source ]

Ultimately DCIS overdiagnoses contribute to the appearance that conventional breast cancer screenings and treatments are more successful and less harmful than they actually are, while at the same time making the industry far more profitable than otherwise would be the case. 

(MIS)TREATMENT OF DCIS  

For most of the twentieth century mastectomy was the first line treatment for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), with younger patients more likely to undergo the procedure. Even after lumpectomy and radiotherapy were shown to be at least as effective for invasive cancer, still in 2002, 26% of DCIS patients were still receiving mastectomy.6  

The most common scenario today following diagnosis of DCIS is for the oncologist to recommend lumpectomy, followed by radiation and hormone suppressive therapies such as Arimidex and Tamoxifen. The tragedy here is that women are not being made to understand the nature of DCIS or the concept of "non-progressive" breast cancers. There is still the black and white perception out there that you either have cancer, or do not have cancer. In a poll on DCIS awareness published in 2000, 94% of women studied doubted the possibility of non-progressive breast cancers.7  In other words, these women had no understanding of the nature of DCIS. And why should they? Major authorities frame DCIS as "pre-cancerous," implying its inevitable transformation into cancer. When the standard of care for DCIS is to suggest the same types of treatment used to treat invasive cancer, very few women are provided with the information needed to make an informed decision.

Additional Reading: The Dark Side of Breast Cancer Awareness Month - Part I Related Links:

1) GreenMedInfo.com: Natural Anti-Breast Cancer Agents

2) GreenMedInfo.com: Natural Aromatase Inhibitors

3) GreenMedInfo.com: Natural Anti-Breast Cancer Substances

4) GreenMedInfo.com: High bone density is associated with profoundly elevated rates of breast cancer risk (330% increase).

5) Dr. Mercola: Why Mammography is NOT an Effective Breast Cancer Screen

6) Thermography: A Safer Option for Breast Cancer Detection

References:

1,2 NIH State-of-the-Science Conference . Diagnosis and Management of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ (DCIS) , Sept. 2009 Source: http://consensus.nih.gov/2009/dcisstatement.htm

3 Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): are we overdetecting it? http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/6/S1/P23

4 Coexisting ductal carcinoma in situ independently predicts lower tumor aggressiveness in node-positive luminal breast cancer.  Med Oncol. 2011 Oct 8. Epub 2011 Oct 8. PMID: 21983862

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Sayer Ji is the creator of GreenMedInfo.com, the world's largest open source and entirely evidence-based natural medical resource. He is a health researcher and writer whose work has been published in the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity and The (more...)
 
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