|
|
|
2007-8-31 17:40:22 |
|
The proportion of U.S. women using mammography to screen breast cancer at its earliest stage dropped four percent between 2000 and 2005 in United States, according to a new study published in the June 15, 2007 issue of Cancer. The finding compounds the current confusion over the practice of mammography screening in reducing the incidence and death rate of breast cancer in American women. An earlier study reported in December 2006 by researchers from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston suggested that the nearly 7 percent decline in breast cancer cases in U.S. women in the years 2002 to 2003 is due to reduced use of hormone replacement therapy. Hormone replacement therapy is used to ease discomfort postmenopausal women experience. Unfortunately, studies have linked this treatment to increased risk of developing breast cancer, leading to early discontinuation of a long-term national study of the therapy on women's health. Another study, published in the May 3, 2007 online edition of the journal Breast Cancer Research, claimed that the recent decline in the cases of breast cancer in women is not only because of reduced use of hormones, but also because of use of mammography. In short, the researcher of that study attributed the decline in part to mammography screening. But the researchers did not explain why mammography helps reduce the number of breast cancer cases in women. A health observer affiliated with foodconsumer.org suggests that saying mammography screening can reduce the risk of breast cancer essentially means that doctors may intervene to affect conditions that otherwise may or may not lead to the development of malignant breast tumor in women. The finding of the current study contradicts the belief of some researchers who attributed the decline in breast cancer cases in women partially to the use of mammography. The authors of the current study also believed that mammogram screening is the best way to catch breast cancer early and said widespread use of mammography since 1980s has led to a reduction in deaths from the disease in women. The researchers also found that between 1987 and 2000, mammography screening increased drastically for women over the age of 40 from 39 percent to 70 percent. The rates leveled off during the period between 2000 and 2003. But according to researchers from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, the breast cancer cases in U.S. women dropped 7 percent between 2002 and 2003, which would mean that use of mammography is not linked with the decline. The current study also found that among women aged 50 to 64 and women with higher incomes, the decline in use of mammography screening was more significant. The researchers do not understand why there is a decline in the use of mammogram screening and what possible impact the decline may have on the incidence and death risk of breast cancer in women. One speculation is that part of the reason(s) may be due to "mammogram fatigue." “When women move into the menopausal years, they tend to lose track of going to a doctor on a yearly basis, and women who got a lot of normal mammograms in their 40s and 50s may ask, 'Why do I continue?" Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La. was quoted by healthday.com as saying. The researchers were reportedly concerned that the decline in the use of mammography may translate into increase in the incidence and death rates of breast cancer in women. Mammogram screening is highly controversial because it was reported that the diagnostic tool results in high rates of false positives, causing unnecessary worry and treatment that causes more harm than good to most of the women who undergo the diagnosis. Another drawback is that mammography screening uses x-ray radiation, which has been most extensively intensively researched for its carcinogenesis, compared to other carcinogens and finally was recognized in 2005 by the federal government as a human carcinogen, meaning the radiation may increase cancer risk in women. Although one mammogram may not trigger development of breast cancer in most women, repeated use of mammography, which is necessary for the purpose of diagnosis, can definitely raise a woman's risk of the disease as the adverse effect of radiation adds up. |
