Controversial change in recommendations for Mammography; Read Hormones and Your Health to make sense of them

Release date: November 17, 2009
With this week’s headlines in the New York Times, and the recommendation changes on mammogram screening being broadcasted by the American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology’s Preventive Services Task Force – women over 35 need to read Hormones and Your Health(John Wiley & Sons, Inc) by Winnifred Cutler, Ph.D.

Published in April this year, Dr. Cutler’s book includes an entire chapter researched on breast health in which she concludes that NOT every woman benefits from the universally recommended annual mammogram – a message now being reflected in medical expert guidelines of the US Preventive Services Task Force and recommendation changes this week. 

In Hormones and Your Health, she provides women and their physicians with what the current science really says – and finds that it is not ‘as frightening a picture as the breast-terror industry would have you believe’… noting from her 6 years of research that mammograms are not treatment, they are stressful detection techniques, and there are ‘costs’ (emotional, physical, financial) to radiation exposure, false positives, and biopsies. Regular mammograms, she argues, while important for the very small proportion of women at high risk of breast cancer, are not necessary for every woman.

The news this week should send women to Hormones and Your Health to read more in-depth, scientific information to make sense of the headlines and the medical organizations’ changes in recommendations as stated in The New York Times Health section (11/16/09):

“The new recommendations, which do not apply to a small group of women with unusual risk factors for breast cancer, reverse longstanding guidelines and are aimed at reducing harm from overtreatment, the group says. It also says women age 50 to 74 should have mammograms less frequently — every two years, rather than every year...”

In October, Dr. Cutler presented her research on the true incidence of Breast Cancer, and her message on mammography, to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine at their annual meeting – and her book is an essential resource to all women over 35, especially right now, to gain the information they need for making the best personal health decisions with their doctors.

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Read More about Dr. Cutler's new book: Hormones and Your Health: The Smart Woman's Guide to Hormonal and Alternative Therapies for Menopause - click here.