The history of uncertainty surrounding mammography

As I’ve written earlier, the reaction from some people that this week’s US Preventive Services Task Force recommendations were “surprising” or “coming out of nowhere” are themselves surprising. Anyone – certainly any informed health care consumer and certainly any journalist- should have known that the uncertainties surrounding mammography have been debated for decades.

There’s a nice summary of the history by Charles Bankhead of MedPageToday.com.

Comments

Marilyn Mann posted on November 20, 2009 at 2:06 pm

Here is David Rind’s take on this:
http://www.evidenceinmedicine.org/2009/11/uspstf-mammography-and-grading-recommendations.html

Teresa Hagen posted on November 20, 2009 at 3:53 pm

Here is even a better piece about the history of breast cancer and mammography. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/opinion/20aronowitz.html?_r=1

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