It’s not going to wind up helping patients, argue two letter writers in Portland’s Oregonian (Dec. 1)(via KevinMD). Leonard Berlin, M.D., thinks providers do not always give the public a realistic view of the benefits and limitations of cancer screening (”A Manifesto for Truth-in-Mammography Advertising”, Imaging Economics, Nov. 2004).


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Ultimately leading radiologists reading screening mammograms to have only two possible results: positive (there is a suspicious area that will need followup or biopsy) and equivocal (we cannot pinpoint anything, yet never, ever should the patient feel healthy even for a moment; correlate with clinical exam, followup with your primary doc, get us old films for comparison).
All I want, and can expect, from a screening exam is to know that my odds are no worse than any old Joe my age. Screening can never tell me with certainty that I am without disease.
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