Do away with mammograms forever

Women of Detroit, MichiganI’ve got good news for you.

Women of Boston, Houston, New York and 12 other cities in the U.S., Canada and Europe, I’ve got good news for you too.

And for women who don’t live in any of these cities, I hope to have some very good news for you as well in about a year and a half when we’ll get the results of a trial that will hopefully do away with mammograms forever.

You’re going to WHAT?

Women who go to a radiology clinic for their first mammogram are often surprised to find that their breasts must be squeezed between two flat surfaces so the tissue will be sparse enough to allow tumors to be revealed. And you can be certain that it’s not a tender squeeze.

To call this “uncomfortable” is a nice way of saying “excruciatingly painful.”

But it’s also dangerous. The compression required for mammograms can actually break down cancer tissue and rupture small blood vessels that support the cancer, causing it to spread.

This is known as the “compression contradiction,” and here’s what William Campbell Douglass II, M.D., had to say about it in the January 2002 issue of his Real Health Breakthroughs Newsletter: “I find it maddeningly contradictory that medical students are taught to examine breasts gently to keep any possible cancer from spreading, yet radiologists are allowed to manhandle them for a mammogram.”

When Dr. Douglass says “manhandle,” that’s a nice way of saying “squashed flat.”

Three upthree down

Whenever I write about mammograms I always receive messages from women who feel they owe their lives to cancer detected by mammograms. I don’t doubt that at all, but I still believe that mammograms will someday be viewed as barbaric and ineffective.

In the e-Alert “Easy as 123” (8/5/03), I told you about three mammography myths:

Mammograms are safe. In fact, they’re not. Compression of the breast may prompt cancer to spread. And then there’s the radiation: A mammogram delivers about 1,000 times more radiation than a chest x-ray and carries a risk of cardiovascular damage.

Mammograms catch cancer at an early stage. In fact, if a tumor is large enough to be detected by a mammogram it’s most likely already in an advanced state.

Mammograms save lives. In fact, studies have shown that women who have mammograms suffer about the same rate of death due to breast cancer as women who do not have mammograms.

For many more details about these three myths, you can find the e-Alert “Easy as 123” on our web site at hsionline.com.

Reading the currents

Mammography is not the future of breast cancer detection. And I’ve got a feeling that even proponents of mammography would agree with that.

In the e-Alert “Firing Back” (8/13/03), I told you about an experimental technique called computed tomography laser mammography (CTLM); a breast imaging system that uses a combination of laser light and thermal heat (but no radiation) to produce a full color, three-dimensional cross-section view of each breast. This method – which is quick and painless – is still being developed and tested.

Today we’ll turn our attention to another new technique called the Breast Cancer Detection System (BCDS); a method that’s also completely non-invasive and radiation-free. And best of all: no squashing.

Hear that sound? That’s the sound of female HSI members shouting in unison: “Halleluiah!”

BCDS technology is based on the discovery that electricity passes through cancerous tissue differently than it passes through normal tissue. A BCDS device consists of several strips containing electronic sensors that are laid over the breast in a spoke-like pattern. Very low electrical currents are transmitted into the breast without causing any pain to the patient. Diagnosis is made with computer analysis.

A South Carolina company called Z-tech is now conducting the final stage of clinical trials with an 18-month test of BCDS at 16 medical centers in the U.S., Canada and Europe. And you can be sure that this is a trial I’ll be following very closely.

If you’d like to find out if one of the BCDS test sites is located in your area, just go to the Z-Tech web site at z-techinc.com and select “Clinical Trials.” Needless to say, I’d be very interested to hear from anyone who contacts one of these test sites and joins the trial.

Sources:

“Detecting Breast Cancer” Matt McMillen, The Washington Post, 5/3/05, washingtonpost.com