Mammograms Worthless Over Breast Exam Alone
- Monday, January 28, 2002 by garyfarr
Adding an annual mammogram to a careful physical examination of the breasts does not improve breast cancer survival rates over getting the examination alone, new research reports. This finding is particularly important since annual mammograms, beginning as early as age 40, is an almost universal practice.
Interestingly, although mammography does leads to the discovery of smaller, earlier stage tumors, it still does not improve breast cancer survival rates over examination alone.
One possible reason for a lack of survival benefit from mammograms "is that treatment of breast cancer has improved to such an extent that there is no longer any benefit from screening," the study's authors report. In addition, the results "suggest another option for screening women over the age of 50 years: annual physical examination and the teaching of breast self-examination by skilled health professionals."
The Canadian National Breast Screening Study-2 (CNBSS-2) has been following more than 39,000 women assigned either to annual physical examination or examination plus mammography since the mid-1980s.
Now, in the latest of an ongoing series of updates, the authors report the results 11 to 16 years after the start of the study.
Mammography continues to offer earlier detection, however. According to the report, mammography plus physical examination provides a 3.6-year advantage in detection-time over no screening, whereas physical examination provides only a 1.5 year advantage.
Consistent with this 2.1-year lead-time advantage, tumors detected by mammography plus physical examination tend to be smaller and are less likely to have spread to the lymph nodes, the researchers report. Unfortunately, the investigators admit, these apparent advantages do not translate into an increased survival rate for women screened with mammography plus physical examination.
Journal of the National Cancer Institute September 20, 2000;92:1490-1499
MY COMMENT: Well now, here we have it mammograms don't work. This is not published in some "rinky-dink" journal or press release. This is from the National Cancer Institute. Their analysis confirms what we have suspected for some time, that mammograms are not a good idea.
Most physicians recommend them for fear of being sued by a woman who developed breast cancer in which he did not advise to get one. Now natural medicine physicians can rest comfortably and encourage women to do get a thorough breast examination for abnormalities, as well as performing frequent self-examinations.
It is interesting how mammograms can found found to provide absolutely no benefit, yet it is the"standard of care" of mainstream medicine.
Hysterectomy Increases Risk of Incontinence
- Monday, January 28, 2002 by garyfarr
New research may make some women think twice before having a hysterectomy. The risk of incontinence, an involuntary loss of urine, typically increases with advancing age, obesity, asthma and childbearing, but researchers now caution that hysterectomy procedures may be added to that list as well.
According to a study at the University of California, San Francisco, women who have had hysterectomies run a substantially higher risk of developing urinary incontinence than women who have not had their uterus removed. The study was funded by the National Institute of Aging. Researchers found that women who had a hysterectomy had a 60 percent increased risk of incontinence by the time they were 60 years of age. The effects of incontinence may take several years to emerge following a hysterectomy and are attributed to the pelvic nerve damage caused by the surgery.
"We think the physiology behind this is that hysterectomies can cause damage," warns the lead author of the study, Jeanettte S. Brown, M.D. Hysterectomy is a common operation that more than 600,000 women in the United States undergo each year; most hysterectomies are elective, not medically necessary. "Women should weigh what the immediate benefits are of a hysterectomy versus the long-term risks later in life," recommends Dr. Brown.
The results of the study are published in a recent issue of The Lancet.
Liposuction: Sucks Away Insulin Resistance, Too
- Monday, January 28, 2002 by newsmanager
We have long been interested in whether liposuction, a popular form of cosmetic surgery (218,064 liposuction procedures were reported in 1998 by board-certified plastic surgeons, dermatologists, and otolaryngologists), provides health benefits by reducing the body fat load and/or altering fat distribution. An article in the January 17, 2001 Journal of the American Medical Association (pp. 266-268) suggests that this is the case. Particularly in large-volume fat removal procedures, there have been reports of reduced insulin requirements in patients with diabetes and alterations in triglyceride levels. Large volume liposuction involves 4-5 liters of material with rates of serious or fatal complications (such as embolism and death) in the range of 0.02% to 0.3%. (Perhaps you can stay young by staying pretty...)
Low Birthweight Linked To Asthma/Poor Lung Function In Later Life
- Monday, January 28, 2002 by garyfarr
Lung function may be "programmed" in fetal life, setting the stage for asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory illnesses in adulthood. The "fetal origins hypothesis" suggests that adaptations made by the fetus in response to undernutrition lead to persisting changes in metabolism and in organ structure, which in turn lead to disease in adult life. Such changes in utero seem to initiate the development of chronic airflow obstruction. Improved fetal growth, and consequent improved lung function, must therefore be achieved by improving the nutrition and health of girls and women of childbearing age.
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Mammograms Worthless Over Breast Exam Alone
- Monday, January 28, 2002 by 
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