HEAL TH
image, the breast compression time is reduced. So again, it’s not a rollicking good time, but not bad at all and getting better.
I can’t afford it
Because of its long record as an effective tool for early detection in the fight against breast cancer virtually all health insurance plans cover a mammogram in full or in large part. For women without health insurance and at very low income levels, the Tappahannock Regional Free Clinic offers a Well Woman Check-Up that includes mammograms and Pap tests provided at no cost. Uninsured women who meet the age and income qualifications can also receive free or reduced cost breast and cervical cancer screenings through the state health department’s Every Woman’s Health program in which Riverside Tappahannock Hospital and Riverside Walter Reed Hospital participate. Our hope is that healthcare reform will make breast cancer screenings even more accessible – and believe me, breast cancer is a bipartisan disease. It doesn’t care how you vote, so mammograms are
a good example of why it would help to take politics out of healthcare.
What about harmful radiation?
The levels of radiation used in screening mammography – which is a type of x-ray procedure – are extremely low, and the very quick images we obtain reduce the exposure even more. It helps to keep in mind that most of our exposure to ionizing radiation, the form of energy waves used in an x-ray, come from natural sources.
For example, the amount of radiation
required for a mammogram is just about what you would receive just being outside for the day or making a flight on a commercial airline. Virtually no procedure is without risk, but in the case of mammography, the benefits far outweigh any potential concerns.
I don’t have a family history of breast cancer
For many women who develop breast cancer the only known risk factor is being a woman. In general, risk factors
can include everything from alcohol consumption, obesity, environmental exposures and age to an early menstruation and a late menopause, as well as certain genetic mutations. So not having a personal or family history of breast cancer is a good thing, but it represents only one of numerous potential risk factors.
Isn’t there a debate about the value of mammography?
Over the past five years in particular there have been some different opinions in the scientific community as well as some different interpretations of available data on the relationship between early diagnosis and the mortality rate from breast cancer. As a physician and a woman I support a healthy public debate about any health issue. But I also think that it is critical to have the facts, and this is what we know:
n Breast cancer killed an estimated 40,000 women last year and is the second-leading cause of death among women, exceeded only by lung cancer.
78
October/November 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100