Well, to toss another aspect of confusion into the whole mammogram “are they really effective and useful or not” question that’s been circulating amongst women and health care professionals for a few years, there is yet another study that questions how effective this method is at early detection and preventing breast cancer deaths.
While most physicians are generally in agreement about early detection and getting mammograms or some other breast cancer detection process done every year after a certain age, there is some dissension about whether mammograms are totally safe in and of themselves, and also whether they truly do their intended job of helping to prevent breast cancer mortality and really get that benefit of early detection.
Why would anyone say that mammograms may actually be doing harm to your breasts? Well, because mammograms, although they have come a long way and the equipment used is much safer, actually exposed your breasts to low levels of radiation. Granted, now those levels are probably lower because the machines are better built now to protect people, but there have been some studies linking mammograms to radiation exposure.
One mammogram may not be a big deal, but what about when you are getting them every year? Cumulative radiation expsoure, some think, does matter, and for this reason some choose to stay away from mammograms, x-rays and other things that may expose them. This is of course entirely a personal belief and choice.
However, when coupled with the newest study which seems to show that breast mammographies only really help in about 10% of cases of breast cancer to really prevent the advancement of the cancer, or prevent eventual mortality. This is of course a lower number than they would like, and not a greatly convincing argument to women to expose themselves every year to a mammogram. However, what if you were part of that ten percent that it helped?
This can all be really confusing, so talk it over with your doctor and express any concerns you may have, whether it’s with the effectiveness at prevention mammograms can offer, or the potential for radiation exposure.
