Dr. Weiss's info on annual mammograms inadequate

chelseasanfran

I've been trying to contact Dr. Weiss and the clinical administrators of this website to let them know that a great deal of the "expert" information being posted is either out-dated or very incomplete in terms of what women need to know.  I've been attempting to address some of these issues in my postings in terms of the complexity of both pre- and post-surgical screenings and the fact that mammograms are for the most part insufficient by themselves.  If there are suspicious findings, one typically requires a second-look Ultrasound with or without an US-guided core biopsy/FNA and/or a Breast MRI with or without a Breast MRI guided core biopsy, each of which has its own set of issues.

I had the wrong procedure done (Lumpectomy with IORT, indicated for Stage I), because I was diagnosed and staged preoperatively by US biopsy with DC after a suspicious mammogram and an US second-look, where the radiologist merely said: "It's some kind of breast cancer." I should have had a pre-op Breast MRI for sizing pre-operatively as US is grossly inadequate for tumor sizing (I turned out to be Stage II). 

There is also much more advanced Breast MRI technology that has been tested in clinical trials that has both very high sensitivity (which current Breast MRI has) AND specificity (which current Breast MRI does not have) and which would likely revolutionize Breast Cancer screening altogether. It would definitely make obsolete the "state of the art" Breast MRI technology used on me at two very large cancer centers where I had my recent six month screening.  And, it would eliminate any radiation damage to the breast in the process of screening.

From Dr. Weiss's annual mammogram update - still at the top of the Advocacy Forum

"Usually, lumps and calcifications in reconstructed tissue that can be felt and are visible with mammography are benign fat necrosis. This is the result of fat cells dying after the reconstruction procedure. These cells calcify and form lumps soon after the surgery, and unlike cancer, they usually stay the same size or get smaller over time.

Breast MRI is another and possibly more effective way to screen women who have had breast reconstruction and are at high risk for recurrence.

The above are just general guidelines. Talk to your doctor about what he or she recommends for you."

Moderators

Chelsea -- thanks for the heads up on this -- sorry we haven't responded til now, but we can assure you, we've passed this information along to the editorial team for review.

Thank you for your diligence!

--The Mods