New mammo guides - more pushback

Rich66 · 11-18-2009, 11:14 AM

With ever-earlier puberty and aggressive cancers being more likely in younger patients, seems the issue ought to be getting a screening regimen better and less expensive than mammo. If this ration path is adopted, maybe boutique imaging centers will become more common. There's one in Milwaukee that aims to make CTs less expensive and more accessible.

StephN · 11-18-2009, 12:16 PM

Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN this morning.
Had an interview with a female member of that "panel".

She is said to be a head nurse someplace and was very inarticulate and slow to answer his tough, tough questions. She admitted that they were making the recs based on statistics. He bristled and I could see him wanted to shout that "people are more than statistics!"

He was ramming at her with the question of the tradeoff of a "small percentage" of lives the would not be saved versus the money saved going elsewhere in the medical or research fields. He got her to say that she was NOT saying those few lives are not worth being saved. But she could not answer with any ease on that, because she knew she was shooting down the reasoning she had just stated as to why to cut backon the screenings.

He also jabbed at her on the idea being put forth that fewer mammos will result in fewer false positives and less anxiety for the women being double checked. She did not have a good answer when he turned the statement around saying the peace of mind gained and the vigilance to a suspicious area might be worth more to the women involved. Such as their lives?

The representative of the panel did not come off well. HA! I was gleeful!

StephN · 11-18-2009, 12:24 PM

Rich -
Does insurance cover CTs at these private clinics? I can't see most families sending their young daughters for such a test if they must pay for it. In a case in my family, it would mean not paying for music lessons, going to camp, or money for college. Young girls/women don't have their health as a priority!

My mom had a "whole body" scan at one of these and paid $800. It was a solicitation by mail. I had to bite my tongue on that one, as she did not ask any questions beforehand and went rather blindly into this.

She still does get her mammogram at age 84.