FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Benefits of mammograms outweigh drawbacks

Benefits of mammograms outweigh drawbacks

The claim that the benefits of mammograms are exaggerated, based on a recent New England Journal of Medicine report, is flawed because the research in question used wrongly extrapolated data.

While breast-cancer treatments have made great strides in recent years, diagnosis of early-stage breast cancer provides the best chance for survival.
Unfortunately the screening participation rate in Singapore is about 30 to 40 per cent, which is relatively low. [The participation rate in Thailand is around 10 per cent.]  
Many women in Singapore still present with advanced cancers, which render a poor prognosis. While four in five women with breast cancer survive longer than five years in Singapore, there is room for improvement. Boosting the screening participation rate will help significantly.
Some claim that too much unnecessary, expensive and painful treatment has also been triggered by abnormal mammograms when tumours did not need to be treated. On the contrary, the detection of early breast cancers by mammographic screening will result in the reduced need for radical, toxic and costly treatment regimens, as well as lower treatment-related morbidity.
However, we are still currently unable to predict who will or will not develop breast cancer, because 90 per cent of patients do not have a family history or known genetic risk factors.
While the pros and cons of breast screening should be discussed with women, the benefits should not be understated. All women aged 50 to 69 years are encouraged to have regular mammograms once every two years.
Dr Lester Leong,
Chairman, chapter of Diagnostic Radiologists
Dr Bernard Lim,
Chairman, chapter of General Surgeons
Dr Tan Puay Hoon,
Fellow, chapter of Pathologists
Singapore
(From the Straits Times/ANN)

nationthailand