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Senior Health & Medicine
Women Have High Expectations of Mammography
Screening
May 4, 2006 A study that included women up to 83
years old found a substantial proportion of women have beliefs about
their personal risk of breast cancer, and expectations about the
performance of mammography that are abnormally high or unrealistic.
The survey was conducted at University of Michigan Health Systems
in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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A survey was administered to women who came to an
outpatient clinic for screening mammography. The participants were 397
women ranging from 40-83 years old.
The responses to the survey questions showed that
16% thought that their personal risk of breast cancer was 50% or higher.
These numbers compare to American Cancer Society reports that indicate
that the chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time
during her life is about 1 in 8.
The survey also found that 20.6% of the women
agreed with the statement 'mammograms detect all breast cancers' and
11.4% were neutral about this statement.
"Women have high expectations of mammography
because patients in general (not specifically women), tend to have a
view of all medical tests being yes or no, 'positive' or 'negative'; the
general public as well as some health care professionals do not
completely understand concepts of accuracy, sensitivity and specificity,
false negatives, and false positives," said Marilyn Roubidoux, MD,
co-investigator of the study.
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Food & Drug Administration says
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Mammograms can show if the inside of the breast
looks normal. But a mammogram can't show for sure whether you have
breast cancer.
If you have a mammogram that doesn't look normal,
your doctor will probably suggest a biopsy--a tissue sample of the
breast. A biopsy is minor surgery. The breast tissue from a biopsy is
tested in a laboratory to see if it's cancerous.
Remember, just because a problem area shows up on
your mammogram that doesn't mean you have cancer. Cancer can only be
diagnosed by a lab test on tissue from your breast.
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"People assume that if a mammogram can detect
cancer the size of a pin, then it can detect all cancers bigger than a
pin. The reality is much more complicated than that," she said.
Most of the women (94%) had had a prior mammogram;
14.1% had prior benign biopsy. Eighty-four percent of the respondents
had one year of post high school education, 55% were college graduates,
and 23% had graduate degrees.
"The purpose of the study was to identify the
significant predictors of repeat mammography behavior. Specifically
looking at the relative impact of the pain experience, emotional
distress and anxiety, and satisfaction with the health care experience,"
said Tricia Tang, PhD, who was the principal investigator and the
designer and administrator of the survey.
"By understanding better which factor carries more
weight, we can develop interventions, be it patient-based,
provider-based, or clinic operations based."
"As stated, women in this study were highly
educated and likely well informed about procedures such as mammograms.
With more information, expectations are more accurate, thereby
minimizing the negative physical and emotional aspects associated with
this type of procedure," said Tang.
"The results in the survey were expected," said
Marilyn Roubidoux, MD, co-investigator. "After working with patients for
many years and doing their biopsies, their beliefs about mammography are
revealed in conversations and these now are shown in a more objective
way in the survey."
Breast cancer is expected to strike 213,000 American women this year,
with the majority being over 50 years of age.
The full results of this study will be presented on
Thursday, May 4, 2006 during the American Roentgen Ray Society annual
meeting in Vancouver, BC.
About ARRS
The American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) was
founded in 1900 and is the oldest radiology society in the United
States. Radiologists from all over the world attend the ARRS Annual
Meeting to take part in instructional courses, scientific paper
presentations, symposiums, new issues forums and scientific and
commercial exhibits related to the field of radiology. The ARRS is named
after Wilhelm Rφentgen, who discovered the x-ray in 1895.
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