The new mammogram recommendations have caused a lot of
arguments. This is not unexpected at all, because the earlier
recommendations sure did sell mammograms as the way to beat
breast cancer, and now we are all supposed to do a 180 degrees
turn! But the truth is that a mammogram is a form of screening,
given to a large number of women, with the intention of finding
early cases of breast cancer and with the assumption that such
early cases would lend themselves better to the current types of
treatment. Those still consist of cutting, poisoning and
radiating, by the way. It's important not to forget that our
abilities to treat cancers of all types really are pretty
medieval. Screening is not treatment. To do it at all is based
on the hope that early detection raises the odds of survival.
This has been shown to be true for cervical cancer and the pap
test and also for colon cancer screenings. But the most recent
evidence suggests that breast cancer screening is less effective
than previously thought. As I mentio