Archive for the "mammography" Tag

In the series of articles on mammography risks we have addressed the main stream approach and conclusions about the early detection of breast cancer with yearly mammograms in women over 50 years old. We have also looked at the research that indicates the x-rays used for mammograms may add to the risk of developing breast cancer.

So we have concerns about the cumulative effect of the x-ray exposure from mammograms on our breasts. Yet we don’t want to be foolish and let an early more treatable breast cancer go undetected.

What’s a gal supposed to do in this dilemma?… Read the rest

Since that nagging question, “Do mammogram x-rays add to the risk of developing breast cancer?” bothers many of us health conscious folks, we’ve been looking at the various perspectives in answer to that question.

We covered the main stream reasoning and thinking in the previous blog posts which you may review here:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

In this issue we will look at two research experiments that pose a different perspective.

First let’s look at a study done by the Radiation Biophysics Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, United … Read the rest

If you missed the prior articles on Mammography Risks, you may review them here:

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3

And here we are for Dr. Boyce’s conclusions on whether or not the risk of mammograms adding to the development of breast cancer outweigh the benefits.

“Does x-ray mammography put women at an even higher risk of developing a radiation induced breast cancer?

The controversy today surrounding screening of healthy women is not whether the radiation exposures are hazardous, but whether young women, under the age of 50, benefit from mammograms.

A 30 percent reduction in death from breast cancer … Read the rest

The debate over whether having mammograms done yearly increases the risk of developing breast cancer prompted the writing of this series of articles. You may want to review Part 1 and Part 2.

In this article *Dr. Boyce presents more information about the risks of developing breast cancer and comes to his conclusions at the end.

 From Dr. Boyce’s article:

“Common conditions or life style factors that increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer by about 40%:

• Never being pregnant or not having children (nulliparity)
• A very early age at first menstrual period (under age 11 years at menarche)

In part 1 of this series on the risks of mammography adding to the cause of breast cancer we looked at the difference between ionizing and non-ionizing radiation that we might be exposed to in Dr. John D. Boyce’s article Ionizing Radiation and Breast Cancer Risk on the Cornell University web site at:

http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/factsheet/physical/fs52.radiation.cfm#mammog

In summary, ionizing radiation exposure comes from medical x-rays and radioactive substances. They are powerful enough to knock an electron off an atom and may cause changes in a cell’s DNA which can lead to cancer.

On the other hand non-ionizing radiation cannot knock an electron … Read the rest