KEY FACTS & SOURCES PRESENTED IN FILM:

 “With most breast cancers…by the time you can feel a cancerous lump, the cancer has been in your body for two to five years.”

Providence Health & Services, Oregan and Southwest Washington

“Compression during mammography can rupture cysts, and dissemination of cancer cells as a result of compression might occur.* ”

— JP van Netten, et al. Lancet (Ltr. to Ed.)

* re: Watmough DJ, Quan KM. X-ray mammography and breast compression. Lancet 1992; 340: 122

“More than 1 million breast biopsies are performed every year in the United States and approximately 75-80% yield a benign outcome.” — Y. R. Parisky, et al. (American Journal of Roentgenology)

“As many as one of every four breast tissue biopsies [or 25%] tested for cancer may have been incorrectly diagnosed by pathologists taking part in a study to test their skills.”

— D. Thompson (HealthDay) | re: J.G. Elmore, et al. (JAMA)

“More than 90,000 people currently living with breast cancer may, in fact, be living (or dying) with an incorrect diagnosis…” — Susan G. Komen for the Cure White Paper (June 2006)

“Mammographic sensitivity for breast cancer declines significantly with increasing breast density…(48% for the densest breasts)…” — Thomas M. Kolb, Md | Lead Author, Radiology

“Addition of screening [ultrasound] significantly increases detection of small cancers…”

— Thomas M. Kolb, Md | Lead Author, Radiology

“Women with dense breasts (as seen on a mammogram) have a higher risk of breast cancer than women with fatty breasts…”— Susan G. Komen website

"…And for women with high dense breasts, this risk is up to 3 to 5 times higher."

Mammographic density and the risk and detection of breast cancer, Mammographic breast density and subsequent risk of breast cancer in postmenopausal women according to tumor characteristics

“Two thirds (66%) of premenopausal women and 25% of post-menopausal women have breasts dense enough that a mammogram will miss their breast cancer…”—Thomas M. Kolb, MD

“…there is substantial overdiagnosis, accounting for nearly a third of all newly diagnosed breast cancers…” — A. Bleyer, et al. (New England Journal of Medicine)

“…those who believe that the Swedish trials [on mammography] are unbiased have to accept from the data that screening for breast cancer with mammography causes more deaths than it saves…”

— P. Gotszche, O. Olsen (in The Lancet)

1 in 400 women will die within 30 days following a mastectomy*

*(due largely to infections)

Ref: Morbidity and Mortality Following Breast Cancer Surgery in Women

For one woman saved, ten receive unnecessary treatment including chemo, radiation or mastectomies due to mammographic screening — Ref: The Nordic Cochrane Centre

“Most U.S. practices offering screening [3D mammography] combine it with digital [2D] mammography, which at least doubles doses and the risk for radiation-induced breast cancer.”

— D. L. Miglioretti, et al. (in Annals of Internal Medicine) Ann Intern Med. 2016;164:205-214.doi:10.7326/M15-1241

“… the current evidence is insufficient to assess the benefits and harms of [3D mammography] as a primary screening method for breast cancer.” — U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (2016)

Large or dense breasts may absorb 1 Rad of radiation…or more with some women receiving more than 7 times the average radiation dose.

Ref: Radiation-Induced Breast Cancer Incidence and Mortality from Digital Mammography

Screening: A Modeling Study

“…studies have provided compelling evidence that…the low energy X-rays as used in mammography are approximately four times — but possibly as much as six times — more effective in causing mutational damage than higher energy X-rays…this implies that the risks of radiation-induced breast cancers for mammography X-rays are underestimated by the same factor.” 

— G.J. Heyes, et al. (in BRITISH JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY)

“Theoretically, annual mammograms in women aged 40 to 80 years may cause up to one breast cancer per 1,000 women.” — National Cancer Institute

“Tumors can cause temperature changes that may show up on the thermogram.”

— National Cancer Institute

“Premenopausal women who do not wear bras had half the risk of breast cancer compared with bra users…”— C.C. Hsieh, et al. (in European Journal of Cancer)

“…screening breast ultrasound will find 40% more cancers in women with dense breasts than mammograms will.” — Thomas M. Kolb, MD - Kolb Radiology

Thermography has been researched over 30 years, using 300,000 participants, ending in 800 peer-reviewed published studies — some including up to 85,000 women, and following outcomes for 12 years.* ** 90% accuracy and 88% specificity have been reported *…yet it is still not FDA-regulated or covered by insurance.

— * “The Biomedical Engineering Handbook (3d. Edition): Medical Devices and Systems” (CRC Press 2006; Chap. 25)

**Gros, C., Gautherie, M., Breast thermography and cancer risk prediction. Cancer, 45, 51,1980.

A screening protocol of thermography and ultrasound is a subject of interest and worthy of future study. (Ref: notes taken at a March 2019 meeting with Otis Brawley, MD, Former Chief Medical and Scientific Officer, American Cancer Society)

“…The data suggest that the value of mammography screening should be reassessed.” *

* (re: specific mortality for women aged 40-59)

— Anthony B. Miller, et al. (in The British Medical Journal)

“…[mammographic] screening is having, at best, only a small effect on the rate of death from

breast cancer.” — Archie Bleyer, M.D. (lead author) (in The New England Journal Of Medicine)

“We conclude that screening for breast cancer with mammography is unjustified.”

— Peter C. Gotzsche, MD (lead author) (in The Lancet)