Unnecessary Mastectomies

[Guest guest]

Unnecessary Mastectomies

By Regush

ABCNews.com

Oct. 27 — It's time for some hard answers from breast cancer specialists an=

d surgeons. They've been sitting on a powder keg issue concerning the health=

of women for far too long.

    

While we hear news almost daily of the need for women to have mammograms an=

d to inspect their breasts for changes that could suggest breast cancer, the=

actual treatment for breast cancer that many women receive, especially poor=

ones, is often outrageously out-of-date, if not bordering on the criminal.

    

An article published this month in the Journal of the American Medical Wom=

en's Association provides a summary and analysis of key studies on breast c=

ancer treatment and raises serious questions about medical conduct.

Poor Get Poor Medical Advice

According to the medical review by Zuckerman, the author of the journ=

al article and head of the Washington, D.C.-based National Center for Policy=

Research for Women and Families, many women are getting their breasts remov=

ed for no good reason — meaning that such decisions are often not based on s=

ound medical judgment but more on the basis of other factors, such as a woma=

n's income, the training of her doctor and where she lives.

    

For instance, if a woman is poor, chances are good that she'll have a maste=

ctomy rather than a lumpectomy (removal of the cancer but not the breast.). =

It's cheaper to remove a breast. Lumpectomies also require follow-up radiati=

on.

    

In Texas, for example, a study of breast cancer treatment at one large urba=

n hospital revealed that 84 percent of the women with early stage breast can=

cer had mastectomies and only 16 percent had lumpectomies. The women who los=

t their breasts were mostly poor.

Other Treatments Exist, But Are Costly

If a doctor was trained before 1981, his patient is much more likely to hav=

e a mastectomy.

Obviously old medical habits die hard.

Research is clear that lumpectomies are as safe as a mastectomy for most wo=

men with early stage disease.

The offending doctors should be hauled in front of a medical inquiry. They =

are needlessly disfiguring women and causing them to endure possible further=

problems, including pain and illness, associated with breast reconstruction=

, which can involve risky breast implants.

    

Studies show that this appalling trend to perform mastectomy exists in most=

parts of the country.

    

You have to wonder what type of information many women are receiving from t=

heir doctors and why they agree to radical surgery.

    

" Limited information and biased recommendations are undermining breast canc=

er patients' choices, " says Zuckerman.

    

" After all the research that has been done, why are so many women undergoin=

g mastectomies they don't need? "

Not Discussed, Though Known

An excellent question. Why is it that performing unnecessary mastectomies i=

s not a priority question in women's health care?

Where are the activists to challenge this medical stupidity?

Where are the women's groups that are engaged in educating women to examine=

their breasts?

Is this subject matter a little too confrontational for them? Is breast sel=

f-examination a gentler and kinder issue?

    

Both activists and the medical establishment should be condemned for their =

silence. And it wouldn't hurt to have a little more media attention focused =

on this issue. Come on medical reporters. It's really not that complicated a=

story.

    

Let's get our priorities straight on treatment for breast cancer.

This butchery must stop.