Posted on 01/04/2010 11:58:06 PM PST by BAW
Breast cancer screening just got more confusing today, as two medical organizations announced annual mammograms should begin at age 40, and earlier for high-risk women. The recommendations contradict a recent advisory for less frequent screenings beginning at age 50, not 40.
The recommendations for less frequent mammograms, released in November, came from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, with panel experts saying they were responding to data showing routine mammograms starting at age 40 rarely saved lives and more often resulted in misdiagnoses that just fueled anxiety and debilitating treatment.
This new advice, which is published in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, comes from the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) and the American College of Radiology (ACR). And these groups suggest just the opposite - that the screening does save lives.
"The significant decrease in breast cancer mortality, which amounts to nearly 30 percent since 1990, is a major medical success and is due largely to earlier detection of breast cancer through mammography screening," said lead study author Dr. Carol H. Lee, a radiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. "For women with the highest risk of developing breast cancer, screening technologies in addition to mammography have been adopted," said Lee, who is the chair of ACR's Breast Imaging Commission.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
But with the gov’t taking over, the science will be based on the squeakiest wheels. Medical Policy is going to be determined by which special interest or minority screams the loudest.
It’s akin to claims of killing Big Bird every time someone wants to cut funding for PBS.
By the end, medicine will be governed by the same consensus as global warming. This is ridiculous.
My husband’s two sisters, both in 40’s with annual mammograms and no family history, were diagnosed with breast cancer within 8 weeks of each other. The goverment can kiss my fanny.
More $ for AIDs research!!!!
And, just suppose that the American Preventive Services Task Force turns out to be unreasonable or tyrannical in their decrees... Well, thanks to the special rules (oh, excuse me, procedures) under the Reid Bill, Congress will not be able to do a damn thing about it. Any bill attempting to rein in this body will be declared Out of Order, in perpetuity, under the Reid Bill.
Nice, huh?
So medical policy will be a patchwork of whatever people manage to bribe or pressure through the process. Diseases of special victim groups will get special status and funding, and diseases that kill old white men will be promoted.
Ain't bureaucratic healthcare grand? It's not even here yet, and already the special favors and pleadings have begun. And our Political Betters in Washington will be able to shake us down by granting favorable access to our own damn money, in perpetuity.
Nice.
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