Mammography Screening Is Being Abolished in Switzerland

Sep 08 Posted by Alexander Mostovoy in Breast Health

The Swiss Medical Board reviewed all of the available evidence and released a report in February of 2014 stating the evidence does not support a common medical mantra that mammograms are safe and capable of saving lives. It appears that mammography may prevent only one (1) death for every 1000 women screened while causing harm to many more. In their review the Board advised the quality of mammography screening should be evaluated and women should be informed in a ‘balanced’ way, about the benefits and harms of screening.

The Swiss Medical Board recommended no more systemic mammograms based on several important factors that where reviewed.  Statistics that are being sited in favour of mammography are based on outdated clinical trials. The first mammography trial began more than 50 years ago and the last trial was conducted in 1991. The benefits that were found during these trials were from another era of breast cancer treatment. Yet in the past two decades the treatment has been significantly improved in terms of breast cancer mortality. Thus the modest benefit of mammography screening that was shown in old trials most likely will not occur if the same trial was conducted today.

The most recent study published in the British Medical Journal involved 90,000 women followed for 25 years, found that mammograms had absolutely no impact on breast cancer mortality. In addition, this study found that 22% of cancers were over‑diagnosed, leading to unnecessary treatment with surgical interventions, chemotherapy and radiation.The Swiss Medical Board experts also noted a very significant discrepancy between women’s perceptions of mammography benefits and actual reality. Whereas women had a perception that mammography prevented 80 deaths per 1000 women screened. The actual figures show that only 1 (one) breast cancer death per 10,000 women can be averted.

It is improbable that women can make an informed decision based on such an overestimation of the benefits of mammography. The great majority of women and sadly even medical professionals are unaware of the fact that the science backing the mass screening of mammography is not there to support it. Unfortunately the message of the Pink Ribbon Industry perpetuates the message that skipping annual mammogram is dangerous and irresponsible. 

The truth be told, that there is more and more research and evidence that shows that more women are being harmed by regular mammograms than are saved by them. It is therefore questionable who’s irresponsible; women who base their decisions on latest research and evidence and therefore avoid mammography or the Pink Ribbon Industry that continues to lobby and promote mass screening with mammography based on outdated facts and dogma.
The evidence of harm and the lack of benefit led the Swiss Medical Board to recommend abolishing mammography as a mass‑ screening program.  This is the first step at making an objective evaluation not influenced by politics and industry’s propaganda. One can only hope that other countries and policy decision makes will take this message seriously.

There are many options available to women when it comes to breast cancer screening, such as Ultrasound, MRI and Breast Thermography. Each of these methods have their strengths and weaknesses and the choice needs to be made available to all women; however, the most important choice that women can make is to focus their attention on prevention of breast cancer rather than early detection. 

American Journal of Surgery, 2008. American Society of Breast Surgeons, Cornell

"The single best article on breast thermography showing a remarkable 97% effectiveness in identifying malignant cancer. RESULTS: Sixty of 94 biopsies were malignant and 34 were benign. DITI identified 58 of 60 malignancies, with 97% sensitivity, 44% specificity, and 82% negative predictive value depending on the mode used. Compared to an overall risk score of 0, a score of 3 or greater was significantly more likely to be associated with malignancy."

Read article here.

Dr. Veronique Desaulniers discusses her conquering of breast cancer and how she feels about thermography

This is a section of Dr. Desaulniers' discussion with Ty Bollinger of The Truth About Cancer series.  To see the video and/or read the entire transcript, please click on the post title itself.

Dr. Desaulniers: Well, I’m living proof. And thousands of women around the globe, and hundreds of thousands of people who have healed cancer, in general. We know there is a cure. The cure lies in our food, in detoxifying our body properly, balancing our energy, in dealing with our stress and our emotional wounds, making sure that we don’t have dental toxicities, using food and plants to repair our body. And then staying on top of everything, making sure that you can prevent cancer in the future, because traditional medicine will use certain markers, but they are very, very gross and very ineffective markers. But there are markers like the PHI enzyme, or the Cancer Profile, or the ONCOblot test that can determine cancer when it is only a few million cells in the body instead of a tumor, because it takes five to eight years for a tumor to develop. Thermography is also a great tool to be able to access the physiological changes that are going on in the body. So, yes, there is a cure, and, yes, you can prevent it.

Ty: And if you want to detect it, what you are saying is that there are better detection methods than getting your mammogram. You’re saying thermography is better?

Dr. Desaulniers: Absolutely. Thermography cannot diagnose cancer, but it can detect physiological changes going on in the body. And we know that mammograms, according to a 25-year Canadian study that was just published last year, mammograms are just as effective as a self-breast exam. And mammograms have not decreased breast cancer mortality rate, not even by one percent.