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Advice on Mammograms
“An excessive use of mammograms is dangerous and misleading.”
[The Record, Other Views, November 5, 2008]

H. Gilbert Welsh of Dartmouth Medical School, states that many breast cancers found through screening mammography would do no harm if left untreated. However, as he acknowledges, there is no way of distinguishing between cancers that will never cause harm and cancers that are deadly.

Welsh’s suggestion that women choose doctors who look for fewer cancers is irresponsible. So is his recommendation that women wait until age 50 for their first mammogram, contrary to current medical standards.

Finding “cancers that matter” is the goal of every mammographer. One day, research will show us how to differentiate between cancers that can be left alone and cancers that can kill us. Until that time, every cancer found, and found at the earliest stage possible, is potentially lifesaving.

Lisa Weinstock
Ridgewood, Nov. 7
The writer, a physician, is director of Women’s Digital Imaging.

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