Most people agree that mammograms shoulder the responsibility of woman's health care, but many doctors think that widespread “Pink Ribbon”campaigns and patient testimonials have imbued the mammogram with the thing it doesn't have. So, some patients begin to believe that there is no doubt that regular mammograms defend breast cancer. That is why some women skip a mammogram. Actually, Dr. Laura Esserman, director of the breast care center at the University of California, San Francisco said “Screening is not prevention. We’re not going to screen our way to a cure.”
However, Among the 60 percent of women with breast cancer who discovered the disease by screening, only about 3 percent to 13 percent of them were actually helped by the test, the analysis concluded, what it comes down to is that ...screening mammography helps 4,000 to 18,000 women each year.
According to the article, it says that there are still 40,000 women dying every year because of breast cancer. There are many example that a lot of people who had a test can't escape death. So, I can understand a notion that people certainly don't want to have unnecessary tests. But, if it is a possibility of recovery, I want many women to have a test for thier good health.
＊“Mammogram's Role as Savior Is Tested”
By TARA PARKER-POPE
The New York Times
October 24,2011,4:01PM
At the end of your blog, you write, "So, I can understand a notion that people certainly don't want to have unnecessary tests. But, if it is a possibility of recovery, I want many women to have a test for thier good health."
返信削除I totally agree with you. But one problem in United States that is not so big in Japan is that medical care in America is extremely expensive, and many people don't have health insurance. So, given the reality that mammograms probably don't help much to detect breast cancer and the fact that such tests are expensive, I can understand why many healthcare professionals would recommend against women having mammograms.