I don’t understand your statement disconnecting detection of early cancer from improving mortality. Even if it is a possibility.
And take away mammograms- what do we women do? 1 in 8 of which may face that diagnosis. Keep their fingers crossed? Wait for masses to get larger so it’s obvious? Europe doesn’t do annual screening right? Any da…
I don’t understand your statement disconnecting detection of early cancer from improving mortality. Even if it is a possibility.
And take away mammograms- what do we women do? 1 in 8 of which may face that diagnosis. Keep their fingers crossed? Wait for masses to get larger so it’s obvious? Europe doesn’t do annual screening right? Any data to compare there?
It’s easy to be critical of various studies but offer real life solutions please. RCTs take a loooong time. Disease doesn’t wait.
It's pretty complex yet pretty simple. As Dr. Cifu points out it's not about finding cancer or finding cancer early. Does mammography prolong the patient's. A lot of very intelligent people believe it doesn't. Today's treatments (mostly non surgical adjuvants) are so good that finding breast cancer a year earlier offers no advantage.
As an international comparison, Switzerland does not have a mammogram screening recommendation. They live longer than us.
Hippocrates said "life is short and the Art long and difficult." We need to do long detailed studies to prove what is best.
You said it. Wait for masses to get larger so it's obvious. When you notice symptoms, then treat the disease. Acknowledge that you are going to die of something, and it'll likely be either heart disease, cancer, or dementia - no amount of screening is going to change that inexorable fact. Stop trying to live forever and reconcile yourself to your mortality. Accept that you're going to die of something, and by not dying of infectious disease etc, you've increased your chances of dying of breast cancer. Make peace with your humanity. There's no need to desperately do something - you seem to believe that doing something is better than nothing - rather, what is needed to be done is in the spiritual or therapeutic realm, in helping people to adjust to their mortal condition and accept their death as a natural part of life. And yeah, my mother had a screening detected breast cancer she survived to die of dementia, (she'd have been better off dying from the cancer) and my stepmother died of a non screening detected breast cancer.
I don’t understand your statement disconnecting detection of early cancer from improving mortality. Even if it is a possibility.
And take away mammograms- what do we women do? 1 in 8 of which may face that diagnosis. Keep their fingers crossed? Wait for masses to get larger so it’s obvious? Europe doesn’t do annual screening right? Any data to compare there?
It’s easy to be critical of various studies but offer real life solutions please. RCTs take a loooong time. Disease doesn’t wait.
Lis,
It's pretty complex yet pretty simple. As Dr. Cifu points out it's not about finding cancer or finding cancer early. Does mammography prolong the patient's. A lot of very intelligent people believe it doesn't. Today's treatments (mostly non surgical adjuvants) are so good that finding breast cancer a year earlier offers no advantage.
As an international comparison, Switzerland does not have a mammogram screening recommendation. They live longer than us.
Hippocrates said "life is short and the Art long and difficult." We need to do long detailed studies to prove what is best.
You said it. Wait for masses to get larger so it's obvious. When you notice symptoms, then treat the disease. Acknowledge that you are going to die of something, and it'll likely be either heart disease, cancer, or dementia - no amount of screening is going to change that inexorable fact. Stop trying to live forever and reconcile yourself to your mortality. Accept that you're going to die of something, and by not dying of infectious disease etc, you've increased your chances of dying of breast cancer. Make peace with your humanity. There's no need to desperately do something - you seem to believe that doing something is better than nothing - rather, what is needed to be done is in the spiritual or therapeutic realm, in helping people to adjust to their mortal condition and accept their death as a natural part of life. And yeah, my mother had a screening detected breast cancer she survived to die of dementia, (she'd have been better off dying from the cancer) and my stepmother died of a non screening detected breast cancer.
And to the young mother who wants to live to raise her children you would say???
Yeah I think we are just a number here. Gotta die of something, maybe stroke when you're 80 or maybe breast cancer at 45, all the same amirite?