You Gotta Think For Yourself, Even with Mammography

I had breast cancer almost 30 years ago. Still, my doc sends me ongoing nudges to get mammograms yearly.

But I get them about every 4 to 5 years with some years in between of ultrasound, or none at all.

I religiously do self-exams in the shower, which is how I found the original lump one month after a normal mammogram and a normal breast exam by a breast cancer doctor.

What’s the scoop?

Older women who have had breast cancer are frequently guided to undergo annual surveillance mammograms, even if there is only a small risk of their developing a second cancer or if they have other mortality risks associated with age and comorbidities.

Researchers warn this ongoing annual surveillance with mammography may be doing more harm than good.

In a study that included almost 45,000 women who were aged 67 years or older when they were diagnosed with breast cancer, investigators found that patients commonly underwent annual mammographies.

"Even 10 years after their initial diagnosis...about 40% of them were still getting surveillance mammography well into their 80s and 90s," noted lead investigator Elizabeth Berger, MD, assistant professor of breast surgical oncology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.

"Ongoing surveillance mammography in these patients may lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of cancers that potentially would not harm patients if left untreated," Berger commented.

Knowledge is power… More is not always better.

In today’s murky medical world, you gotta be an agile thinker for yourself.

This doesn’t mean, no mammograms, but ya gotta wonder about yearly ionizing radiation, risk versus benefit kind of thing.

FACT: No one else will ever care about your health as much as you will. But it’s hard to take the responsibility that goes with that.

I take my two new products daily to also help keep my remission my mission:

• Receptor Detox (one twice daily with food),

• Hormone Balance & Protect (with botanicals that science suggests eradicate cancer stem cells and help “control growth” - while cancer is “growth out of control”,

Along with regular exercise, eating more veggies, especially Brassica (which are also in these products along with DIM), and living a passionate life such as writing right here for YOU.

Dr. B.

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References:

Presented at the American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting 2023 on April 29. The study was highlighted in a preview press briefing.

American Society of Breast Surgeons (ASBrS) Annual Meeting 2023: Abstract 1388238. To be presented April 29, 2023.

Mammography After Breast Cancer: No Benefit for Older Patients? - Medscape - Apr 27, 2023.