Researchers from Group Health Research Institute in Seattle contributed to two new studies that identify two types of women who may benefit from regular mammograms in their 40s: those who have very dense breasts, and those who have a close relative — a mother, sister or daughter — who had breast cancer.
Overdiagnosis occurs when routine breast cancer screening discovers a cancer that would have never caused symptoms in a woman’s lifetime. When this is the case, a woman might undergo the ordeal of surgery, radiation treatments and chemotherapy for a tumor that she otherwise would have never known she had.
On Saturday, March 17, local health organizations are hosting a free mammogram screening event in southeast Seattle focusing on African American women.The event is this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Columbia Health Center, 4400 37th Avenue South, Seattle, WA 98118.
Facing a storm of criticism form women’s groups and abortion-rights supporters, the Susan G. Komen for a Cure foundation announced it would reverse its decision to cut its funding to Planned Parenthood.
The breast-cancer charity Susan G. Komen For the Cure is pulling about $700,000 in breast cancer screening and service grants from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.Komen’s reason: a new policy forbidding grants to organizations under official investigation. Planned Parenthood is the subject of an inquiry launched by a GOP congressman.
Doctors offer or suggest only about half of the screening tests and other preventive services that guidelines recommend doctors offer to patients during their routine medical checkups, a new study finds. That’s not so bad, say some experts, given how little financial support there is to promote prevention.
Are older patients being over tested? There is little evidence the elderly benefit from colon, breast and prostate cancer screening — and considerable risk.
What’s screening tests should a woman have? And what are the benefits and risks of different treatments? New guidebooks provide research-based advice.
Talks at Gilda’s Club Seattle in January: “Reducing your cancer risk”, “Ask the Doctor: Gynecologic Cancers” and “Breast Cancer Screening: Why One Size Doesn’t Fit All”.
The YWCA Women’s Health Outreach Program and South Seattle Community College will conduct a mobile mammography screening Tuesday, Feb. 23rd, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at SSCC, 6000 16th Ave. SW, in West Seattle. The Washington Breast and Cervical Health Program provides no-cost pap tests, clinical breast exams and mammograms to income-eligible women over [...]
The decision to be screened should be a shared decision between the individual patient and her physician.
Putting off the first mammogram until age 50 could endanger the lives of black women.
LocalHealthGuide is a health news and information web service for Seattle and the Puget Sound Region. We are independent and unaffiliated with any hospital, medical association or insurer. If you have questions or if your group has an upcoming event that you would like us to cover, please let us know by going to our "Contact Us" page and dropping us a note. -- Michael McCarthy, Editor
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