Mammos Lead to Earlier Stage at Dx, Lower Need for Aggressive Tx

Options
Moderators
Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
edited May 2018 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

Screening Mammograms Lead to Earlier Stage at Diagnosis, Lower Need for Aggressive Treatment
May 10, 2018
A study suggests that screening mammograms every 2 years or more often are linked to breast cancers that are diagnosed at an earlier stage, which lowers the need for more aggressive treatment. Read more...

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • djmammo
    djmammo Member Posts: 2,939
    edited May 2018

    Opinion

    Radiologists who primarily read breast imaging have known this for years as a result of their day to day experience. When we are reading screeners and run across an obvious cancer we can often look back and see that the pt had not had a mammograrm the year before and perhaps not even the year before that either. Sometimes a very small cancer is missed one year and this error is compounded when next one or two yearly screenings are skipped. This is why we recommend yearly screening.

    The value of the screening exam is to find a cancer before it can be felt at which time it can be dealt with more easily. Somewhere I think there is a statistic from the world breast imaging expert Dr. Lazlo Tabar indicating that statistically, cancers measuring 1.4cm and smaller are the easiest to treat.

    In any part of the body it is better to find a cancer earlier rather than later. The breast imaging community accepted this concept as common knowledge until 2009 when the USPSTF published their findings and made our lives more difficult. I spent the end or 2009 and early 2010 refuting this on local TV, radio and newspapers. And don't get me started on Dr. Oz.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • coffeeaddict
    coffeeaddict Member Posts: 12
    edited May 2018

    Earlier screening programs and earlier screening in general is a good thing. I have a question though, in regard to screening:

    Is it true that in order for women or men to be covered via state programs (referring to under or uninsured folks) such as Medicaid, that they have to be screened at said programs locations?

    What happens if you have a screening via a regular insurance (work or privately purchased)...they find something....and during that time the person loses health insurance coverage? Does that mean that the state won't cover them because the issue wasn't found in their screening process? Does that mean they now go for diagnostic screening via one of those programs?

    Curious - specifically for MN and WI.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories