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Yearly Mammogram Helps…Fact Or Fiction?

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of death from cancer among women in the United States, following lung cancer.[1] Breast cancer is also the leading cause of death among American women between the ages of 44 and 55. However, women much younger find themselves the victim of this dreadful disease as well. Most health experts conclude that catching a tumor in its early stages increases a woman's chances of survival by at least 17 percent.

Early Detection With A Mammogram?

The most common method for early detection is mammography. A mammogram is an X-ray picture of your breast that can reveal tumor growths otherwise undetectable in a physical exam. Notwithstanding improvements and innovations over the years, mammography has garnered a sizable opposition in the medical community because of an error rate that is still high and the amount of harmful radiation used in the procedure.

Serious Problems With The Mammogram:

Many women place a lot of trust and faith in the mammogram, but here are some disturbing facts:

In a Swedish study of 60,000 women, 70 percent of the mammographically detected tumors weren't tumors at all.

70 to 80 percent of all positive mammograms do not, upon biopsy, show any presence of cancer.

Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, in, The Politics Of Cancer, says that in women ages 40 to 49, one in four instances of cancer is missed at each mammography.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) says the false negative rate is even higher at 40 percent among women ages 40-49.

Studies show that mammograms fail to detect cancer 30 percent of the time in women aged 40 to 49. In addition, it can take eight years before a breast tumor is large enough to detect, by which time the cancer could have spread to other parts of the body.
According to Canadian columnist Dr. W. Gifford -Jones, women between the ages of 40 and 49 who have regular mammograms are twice as likely to die from breast cancer as women who are not screened. He writes… "Experts say you have to screen 2,000 women for 10 years for one benefit,... According to some authorities, the squeezing of women's breasts during mammograms may rupture blood vessels, causing cancer to spread to other parts of the body and actually increasing a patient's risk of death.”

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Doctors Warn

The American College of Physicians (ACP), which represents 120,000 internists recommended women in their 40s consult with their doctors before undergoing routine annual mammography screening. After reviewing 117 studies conducted over a 35 year period they concluded the data on mammography screening for women in their 40s are so unclear that the effectiveness of reducing breast cancer death could be either 15 percent or "...nearly zero."[2]

“ According to Dr. Samuel Epstein of the Cancer Prevention Coalition, "Screening mammography poses significant and cumulative risks of breast cancer for pre-menopausal women. The routine practice of taking four films of each breast annually results in approximately 1 rad (radiation absorbed dose) exposure, about 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray.

The coalition reports women who carry the A-T gene are especially prone to risk from early mammography screening: "Radiation risks are some four-fold greater for the 1 to 2 percent of women who are silent carriers of the A-T (ataxia-telangiectasia) gene; by some estimates this accounts for up to 20 percent of all breast cancers diagnosed annually."[3]

Detecting Breast Cancer Through Human Saliva-The Near Future

Health writer, Sherry Baker, says: “In the not-too-distant future, women having a dental check-up or their teeth cleaned may be offered a simple “swish and spit” test that could accurately reveal whether they have breast cancer – at an early and most curable stage. That’s the news from researchers at The University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center at Houston who have found specific protein markers in human saliva that can provide an early, non-invasive diagnosis of breast cancer.” “According to a study published in the January 10, 2008, issue of the journal "Cancer Investigation”, the test is able to distinguish between benign and cancerous tumors.”[4]

“Many have expected that God would keep them from sickness merely because they have asked Him to do so. But God did not regard their prayers, because their faith was not made perfect by works. God will not work a miracle to keep those from sickness who have no care for themselves, but are continually violating the laws of health and make no efforts to prevent disease. When we do all we can on our part to have health, then may we expect that the blessed results will follow, and we can ask God in faith to bless our efforts for the preservation of health. He will then answer our prayer, if His name can be glorified thereby.”[5]

“I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11

[1] http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mammogram/WO00023

[2] http://www.naturalnews.com/021849.html

[3] ibid.

[4] ibid.

[5] Medical Ministry pgs. 13,14