Mammogram Confusion Likely to Remain

By Rachel Stockton

The newest guidelines regarding mammography have women across the nation a bit confused.  After two decades of recommending that women have annual mammograms at the age of forty, the US Preventive Services Task Force has stated that yearly exams need not begin until 50.

What is puzzling to physicians and their patients is the fact that mammography is still one of the best ways to detect breast cancer in its early stages.   Self breast exams are another, yet the Task Force is no longer recommending those, either.

Most of us can probably conjure up at least one friend, relative, or acquaintance who discovered they had cancer by one of these two methods.  Apparently, however, the task force believes that the negatives, which include false positives, outweigh the benefits of both. 

And, according to USA Today, some experts have been concerned about the risks of unnecessary mammograms for decades.  Radiation exposure, they remind us, is no small matter.

Opinions Regarding Risk Factors

Methods of detection are not the only controversy and confusion surrounding breast cancer and other female cancers; risk factors are also hotly debated.

For example, the role of estrogen and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is one such controversy.  In the online journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, an October article reveals a connection between HRT and “unfavorable vascular effects” in women.  For that particular study, oral estrogen was associated with such effect.  However, according to anti-aging specialist Dr. Corwin Petty, one oft overlooked aspect of that study was the fact that trans-dermal estrogen, or estrogen absorbed through the skin, was not associated with cardiovascular problems. 

BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy

Then there is the issue of bio-dentical hormones.  The distinction of “bio-identical” when it comes to hormones simply means that the hormones used to replace those in the human body are chemically identical to the hormones they are replacing.   Synthetic hormones are the culprits when it comes to much of the controversy.

Dr. Petty has this to say about the issue:  The molecular differences between bioidentical and non-bioidentical may prove to be the defining aspect in terms of hormone replacement therapy safety, and failure to make this differentiation and thereby alarm the public could be construed as misleading.”

Remember when the “experts” told us that by consuming soy, women could reduce their risk of breast cancer?  It turns out that this is quite true; but because soy has traces of estrogen, women are being told to avoid it.

But soy has natural estrogen, not the synthetic variety.  And that makes all the difference, according to anti-aging specialists.

The bottom line in all of the controversy, of course, is for women to try to stay abreast of the latest information and to engage in active dialogue with their physicians to determine what is best for them.