The benefits of yearly breast ultrasound instead of a mammogram and why some GYN doctors keep this life-saving information from their patients.
It’s hard to imagine a more backward, outdated, and damaging approach to detecting breast cancer than the annual mammogram. Place breasts between two plates, compress them hard (to the point of pain for some women), and douse with more radiation than 1000 chest x-rays combined (1 rad). All this … on an annual basis!
If you don’t have breast cancer already when you walk in the door, the chances are very real of developing it from repeated, annual exposure to this insanely high level of ionizing radiation! Worse, the vigorous breast compression actually encourages the spread of an existing malignancy.
According to Dr. Samuel Epstein MD, one of the world’s top cancer experts:
“The premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each 1 rad exposure [per mammogram] increasing breast cancer risk by about 1 percent, with a cumulative 10 percent increased risk for each breast over a decade’s screening.” (1)
Dr. Charles B. Simone MD, a former clinical associate in immunology and pharmacology at the National Cancer Institute, says:
Mammograms increase the risk for developing breast cancer and raise the risk of spreading or metastasizing an existing growth. (2)
The pure lunacy of mammogram screening is why I’ve never had one and never will, even though at my age, I am “supposed” to already have had more than ten!
So what does a well-researched woman who understands the dangers of mammograms do instead?
Thermography Not a Perfect Choice
Many women who have turned away from dangerous mammography are getting breast thermography instead. While this is a safe screening test, it is unfortunately not the perfect substitute for mammograms in all situations.
For example, if a suspicious area is noted during thermography screening, a woman still is forced to go get a mammogram to check it out further. This happened to me a number of years ago (story here).
At the time, I was bound and determined to avoid a mammogram no matter what. The only way I could manage this was to circumvent the system and have my (MD) Dad write me a script for a breast ultrasound only. Inexplicably, the vast majority of doctors won’t do this. Labs won’t do a breast ultrasound without a mammogram either – it’s such a racket!
The hospital radiologist who conducted my breast ultrasound discovered that the lump was just a clogged duct. But … she bullied me the entire time for skipping the mammogram even though there was absolutely no downside in doing so! In fact, skipping the mammogram and getting only a breast ultrasound on a yearly basis is the smartest way to go! It is also far less expensive than thermography.
HUGE Breast Ultrasound Benefits Over a Mammogram
It was astonishing to me the gigantic hoops I had to jump through and the doctor bullying I had to endure to get a safe breast ultrasound instead of a carcinogenic mammogram. The questions that swirled around in my head were:
Why are doctors and labs so aggressively blocking breast ultrasound as an alternative to mammogram as a first line diagnosis option?
Why are women forced to get a dangerous annual mammogram BEFORE they are permitted to get a safe breast ultrasound, which is far more effective at detecting breast cancer anyway particularly for the 50% of women with dense breasts?
You know the sad answer. Ultimately, it is a money thing. Mammograms make gynecologists and labs far more money than breast ultrasound alone. The fix is in when it comes to gynecologists, labs and mammogram madness.
Mammogram Monopoly is Starting to Crumble
The mammogram monopoly is starting to crash, however! Now any woman can choose to skip out on a dangerous annual mammogram and get a safe breast ultrasound instead.
Bonus: a breast ultrasound is far more effective at detecting breast cancer. So, the huge problems of false positives, misdiagnosis and overtreatment decline substantially too!
Best of all, you can NOW get a breast ultrasound without a prescription, which means you don’t have to beg your doctor to write you a script for one instead of a mammogram. Given my experience in the years since my Dad retired from medicine, you can do all the begging and cite all the research you want. THEY WON’T DO IT.
Why?
Mammograms are big business! If you want to avoid them, you are going to have to go a completely different route.
Here’s what I did. I discovered the company Herscan from a recommendation from an alternative physician. This company is FINALLY providing this long overdue service of breast ultrasound only without a prerequisite screening mammogram.
7 Benefits of Breast Ultrasound over Mammogram
Here are the 7 benefits of getting a breast ultrasound from Herscan and TOTALLY SKIPPING your annual mammogram – FOREVER.
- Breast ultrasound is painless with no breast compression. There is no radiation exposure, and it is implant safe.
- Your results are read by a Board-Certified Radiologist. HerScan Sonographers are Registered RDMS, and are highly experienced breast specialists.
- No Prescription Required!
- Breast ultrasound takes 15 – 20 minutes on average.
- Breast ultrasound is BETTER for ALL women, but most especially critical for the 50% of women with dense breast tissue. On a mammogram, dense tissue appears white and cancerous tumors also appear white making it nearly impossible to “see” the tumor. It’s like trying to finding a snowball in a snowstorm. Studies confirm that Mammography misses every other cancer in women with dense breasts.
- Powerful ultrasound technology can see breast abnormalities that cannot be seen by mammography or by physical exam. Ultrasound sees all the way to the chest wall!
- Breast ultrasound is about half the cost of thermography. No surprise that most insurance won’t cover it, but no worries! Herscan has a program to help women who cannot afford the test.
It’s time to break the back of the mammogram mafia in the United States. Women IN DROVES need to start opting out of these dangerous annual exams and take their power back by getting annual breast ultrasound instead.
Thank you to Herscan for this tremendously important, lifesaving service to all women! You can book your appointment today by clicking here.
Sarah, where can I get an ultrasound without mammogram? I live in Alabama and here I am bullied for refusing a mammogram (just turned 40).
The breast cancer diagnostics are refusing to do only the ultrasound. What should I do? Where should I go?
The mammogram business is SUCH A RACKET. The medical industry loves to rake in the buckaroos because so many women won’t stand up for themselves and say NO! Good for you for not caving to their bullying. Look at all the decades they made bank on hormone replacement with the line that “it lowers your cancer and heart disease risk” which was SUCH A COMPLETE LIE. 40 years of lies on that one procedure before it was finally quietly ditched. Not to mention all the decades they made a fortune with unnecessary hysterectomies. I could go on and on.
Did you check out the HERSCAN website I listed? They will do ultrasound only. I am pretty sure they go to Alabama. Either that or just go do a thermogram. I would NEVER cave and do a mammogram especially if you have dense breast tissue (about 50% of women do).
Another option is to book an appt in Florida and travel over the state line to go get an ultrasound. Think out of the box!
Lisa – Not many years ago, no physician would admit that cancerous cells can be seeded via biopsy. Now, it’s all the ‘rage’ to note that that is, in fact, true. I loathe them all.
Jim West – it’s a crock to compare radiation from mammography to breast ultrasound. Why would you spread such garbage when women are already faced with the most lacking of protocols, no breast specialties in medicine, etc.
Can you provide a reference for the 20% of cancer caused by mammogram statistic?
Yes, the reference is provided in the article if you take a look again.
mri’s do not give radiation. why would they be dangerous i clicked on herscan but it only gave dates for places in florida to get the scan,
There are other states too last time I checked.
Ultrasound and X-Ray hazards are comparable, as argued in my recently published book (“Ultrasound Causation: Part A”) . Supporting documentation is in the soon-to-be published “Part B”, now in copy-editing phase. See harvoa.org
Interning article but it was not sited correctly. I wanted to see the original quote you were referring to and clicked on reference “2” only to find someone else quoting the quote. It needs to be referenced with original references. Would be nice to include the original study. Also, US is great for sense tussues but not good with less dense tissues ie in women over 50. What is to be done then?
Yes, the medical community tries to “normalize” that – looking down on you and treating you like you are unstable when you bring up the FACT that radiation causes cancer. Never get an MRI or a Catscan if possible. People who do are much more likely to get a brain tumor later on in life. They tried to give me one for a minor bump on my head but didn’t want and never did physically examine the bump. When I refused (in the ER) the doctor refused to come back and check on me – which later I found was against the hospitals ER procedures. Luckily I’d read about it shortly before this time. But they try and succeed to make things that sound (because they are) crazy seem normal and okay. They don’t care if later you die. Seriously, going to medical people can be a minefield of deliberate misinformation and danger. Oh, and they HATE the internet, lol.
I’m not sure if it’s true but I read that going braless helps prevent breast cancer. I know that sounds ridiculous but I did read that a few years ago. So I’m much more inclined to go without when possible.
Underwire bras should definitely be avoided. I’ve seen some research linking their use to breast cancer.
Yesterday in the mail I got a letter from my health insurer, Anthem Blue Cross. It included a MasterCard gift card for $50 that they would activate if I got a mammogram by the end of the year. Bribing me to get a mammogram!
Yes, such a scam! Kind of like the free stuff or bonus points you get when you get the flu shot at Walgreens etc.
Here in FL, annual breast cancer screening is mandated for health insurers to cover with no deductible required. But, ONLY a mammogram is covered. An ultrasound is not covered even if it is less expensive!