Mammograms always in news

We women are confused once again after studies suggest routine mammograms may not save lives. Reported by Reuters in the Montreal Gazette, it is not hard to find breast cancer survivors who feel mammograms are a good idea when a tumor was found during a routine screening. An increasingly heated debate is raging about merits and risks about mammograms. The fear is that over-diagnosis may lead to unnecessary radical treatments.

Some scientists are locked in a battle, slinging accusations of misleading data and conflicts of interest. Different studies show different results. When a mammogram picks up something called ductal carcinoma in-situ, which are cells – often described as ”pre-cancerous”  or non-invasive – that may progress into life-threatening cancer if left untreated. But there is also a chance they would never progress or cause a problem, but instead leave the woman to live in blissful ignorance.

My cancer was invasive and advanced to seven lymph nodes so I had no confusing decisions or aftermath to torture me. I can only imagine what goes through minds of women faced with non-invasive cancer during and after treatments. Second-guessing is horrible and we cancer patients are in the elevator of life with a clock ticking. We cannot be pressing both up and down buttons at the same time when faced with a potentially life-threatening disease and different options from different doctors.

Mammograms are always in the news and confusion continues to reign.