Screening out misconceptions about mammograms
Re: "Medical tide is turning against mammograms", Letters, August 4.
Eric Bahrt’s sweeping statement on the shortcomings of screening breasts for cancer gives the potentially harmful impression that all mammograms are unnecessary. The issue has been controversial since 2012, when the study cited by Mr Bahrt was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Doctors now routinely recommend that women over the age of 50 go for screening every two years and that those of any age who discover a suspicious lump should
get a mammogram test immediately.
A must-read for all concerned readers is the balanced article “Many mammogram breast cancer screenings are unnecessary” written by Joel Zinberg, a practising surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, and published last month on the US News and & World Report website – www.usnews.com/topics/author/joel-zinberg.
Songdej Praditsmanont
