Risk from Breast Cancer Genes, One More Time: Health Blog

[Guest guest]

Poster's Comment: Benjamin Disreali's quote, " There are three kinds of lies

in the world: lies, damn lies, and statistics. "

Risk from Breast Cancer Genes, One More Time

_http://www.jonbarron.org/blog_published/2008/01/risk_from_breastcancer_genes_

o.html_

(http://www.jonbarron.org/blog_published/2008/01/risk_from_breastcancer_genes_o.\

html)

Until a few days ago, we had been told that women who have a family history

of breast cancer combined with mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes have an

80-percent chance of developing the disease at some point in their lives. Women

in this at-risk group have been receiving advice to consider " a bilateral

prophylactic mastectomy, " which means having both their still-healthy breasts

surgically removed to preempt the possibility that they might develop cancer.

Astoundingly, about 20 percent of these women _have been opting for the

preventative surgery_

(http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1201178) .

 

Now, _a new report just published_

(http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/breast-cancer-gene-risk-may-be-oversta\

ted/index.html?hp) in the Journal of

the American Medical Association reveals the odds are somewhat less than first

projected. According to the study, the odds may be as low as 36%. Can you

say, " Whoops!? "

A whole lot of women have been lopping off their breasts at a young age --

suffering considerable pain and the emotional scars resulting from disfiguring

surgery -- because they believed they were otherwise doomed. Many of them

might have made a different choice had they known the true odds. Granted, a

four in ten chance of getting breast cancer is hardly a trifle, but that brings

me back to the _blog I posted back in October of 2006_

(http://www.jonbarron.org/blog_published/2006/10/prophylactic_breast_removal.htm\

l) revealing that

the sky-high risk associated with the mutated genes plummets to 10 percent in

the absence of family history. And, as I stated at the time, family history

does not necessarily mean fixed genetics. It could easily mean sharing

environmental exposure and cancer-producing habits such as living on a farm and

being exposed to pesticides, or eating too much dairy, for example. Since

environment and habits can be changed, the risk even for women with mutated

genes

and family history might be reduced considerably by undertaking a new regimen

including detoxing, avoiding dairy, and using bio-identical progesterone

creams. It's also worth noting that cutting off your breasts doesn't

necessarily

get rid of the cause of the cancer -- just one place it might manifest.

It's disheartening enough that most medical practitioners don't educate

women about these lifestyle options, instead directing their patients to the

most

radical, " proven " route. But even more disheartening is the fact that scare

tactics have driven patients to willingly choose such radical surgery, when

we now discover that those tactics were based on false data. Those who

elected prophylactic double mastectomy might be distressed to learn that _the

preventive surgery at best only adds three to six years_

(http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Insurance_May_Not_Cover_Prev\

entive_Surgery_for_High_R

isk_Women.asp) of life for a 30-year-old woman, and only when she also has

her ovaries removed. The cost is high -- physically, psychologically, and

financially -- for less reward than expected.

Reminds us of the good old days (up until today) when women were having

hysterectomies as often as manicures. Now we know that _many of these operations

are highly questionable -- even completely unnecessary_

(http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0815/is_n170_v18/ai_13218625) . Makes

you wonder why

surgeons are so cut-happy when it comes to women's body parts.

:hc

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