Breast exams: new guidelines call for less testing!  The U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recently concluded breast health is not improved for women in their 40s as a result of annual mammograms and women over 50 can go to one scheduled exam every other year.

Also (incredible as it is), the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force, which is a 16-member panel of independent experts, after 100 years of suggesting women’s breast health is improved by self breast exams, documents that breast health is not improved by self exams and they are essentially worthless.

This is an incredible turnaround!  While there has been a huge public and professional outcry about these drastic changes in recommendations regarding women’s breast health, the central question is this – What is the actual documented data on the link between self breast exams, mammograms, and mortality?

Two significant studies, one in Sweden, have documented there is little to no link between mammograms, self breast exams, and actual mortality. 

While it appears the data says there is less overall breast cancer, the facts clearly seem to suggest the reduction ties more to the significant reduction in women smoking, an upswing in exercising, a profound growth in better diets, and a significant reduction in physician’s prescribing HRT for menopause symptoms. 

Menopause information has been widely disseminated showing doctors clearly know that HRT has side effects; specifically, has direct implications for a significantly higher risk of breast cancer.  Menopause information clearly recommends the benefits of natural hormone replacement therapy and while there are natural progesterone cream side effects, they do not include a higher risk of cervical and breast cancer.

If anyone is interested, I will put the data together and write a subsequent blog on the direct impact of HRT and cigarette smoking on breast health.  The link is significant.  Many other countries around the world have significantly lower breast cancer rates but they focus on preventative breast health, including diet, exercise, smoking reduction, and eliminating widespread use of HRT.

An excellent resource for more information on this subject can be found at menopause articles and progesterone articles.

Dr. John Lee has written oodles of information about HRT and breast cancer.  Also, there’s a tremendous amount written about what a financial boom annual mammograms are for medical institutions and the converse, which is once the huge investments were made in mammogram equipment, the need to make their use widespread.

The real question at stake here is what does factual data say about the actual reduction in cancer mortality as the result of widespread mammograms.  The recent information from the 16-member panel of the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force clearly states there is no clear statistical benefit to womens breast health from self exams and actual mortality from self exams.

Question: Why did the medical profession take such great focus on teaching self exams when it had to be clear for years they provided no benefit?  Please comment.