"People still believe heredity is the cause of most breast cancer cases, although in reality only 5 percent to 10 percent of breast cancer is caused by genetic mutations that can be inherited."
Contrast that with Health magazine's October breast cancer awareness coverage (I generally like Health magazine, BTW, but every month it publishes capricious medical advice, annoying): The cover model is clearly young -- I'd be surprised if she is any older than me -- and her mother died of breast cancer. So, she went out and got a mammogram.
What conclusion would readers draw from this? To get a mammogram, regardless of whether the test is relevant to them.
Unless the model's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer prior to age 40, it unlikely the mother's breast cancer is a sporadic (hereditary) form of breast cancer, related to the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 genes. Her mother's breast cancer was most likely due to age -- 80 percent of breast cancer cases are women older than 50.
While there is evidence that annual mammograms in women, 50-69, can save lives. Mammograms have not been proven to save lives in younger women. In fact, younger women are more likely to get a false-positive than older women.
And check out this interesting study from NCI:
"Researchers are reporting that a computer system created to help radiologists interpret mammograms may not be helping after all. The system, known as computer-aided detection, or CAD, uses software to mark suspicious spots on mammograms that could be overlooked by radiologists.
OK, I don't want to sound like some paranoid freak who is anti-technology. So, that's it for now.
1 comment:
You write very well.
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