Linda bugging Coleman
Portland, 2007
Dick Ingwall writes that he is so busy supplying the Hyannis
Port Food Bank with squash that he rarely has time to search the NY Time for
cancer-related stories, so sometimes I have to do it myself. Today I ran on the following interesting
article, which I will comment on below.
The gist of the
article is that medical technology has come up with a 3-D scanner to use in
mammography. It catches more potential
tumors, it uses only marginally more radiation – and it costs a hell of a lot
more. An individual unit will set you
back a cool half mil, assuring that only the more affluent venues will have
them – at least for now. It is stated
that some (most?) insurance companies will not foot the entire bill, and that
the patient may have to ante up an additional $50 or so, which could be a
burden to some. Nevertheless, on balance this seems
like a good thing to me, but wait….. Not
everyone agrees.
Back in February I wrote a blog entitled “To Squeeze or Not
to Squeeze”. It discussed results of a
trial conducted in Toronto that compared the efficacy of having a mammogram and
breast examination together as opposed to having the exam alone. It was concluded that the mammogram added
nothing to overall survival, while producing unnecessary expense and useless
anxiety (e.g., false positives). The counter-attack was, of course, immediate
and ferocious. Here is a quick way to
access that older blog:
As you can imagine, the same sorts of arguments are being
rolled out regarding this new (3-D) wrinkle.
Is it worth the cost in resources and human anxiety? The battle rages on.
Personally, I would be very reluctant to disregard
any promising new technology in the cancer field. Cancer is too damned serious to discard any potentially
useful weapon against it. Yes, added anxiety and added expense are bad things - but death is worse. If I were a
woman over 50, or a woman with a family history of breast (or ovarian) cancer,
I would get my 3-D scan, and screw the extra expense. Read the article and see if you agree.
For me, daughter Karen said it best: “Mammography caught mine so I’m all for it.”
Damned right!
No comments:
Post a Comment