Nothing is perfect. Sure, we can believe that something is perfect, but in reality, everything and everyone has flaws. Imperfections are the things that make us people. If we did not have flaws, what would we strive for in life?
Recently, the American Cancer Society has come under fire because its cancer screening guidelines are not perfect. Sure, cancer mortality rates have gone down, but not enough for some people to believe that the screening is doing any good.
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association claimed that we are being over-screened and over-treated for cancer, and that more tests have not correlated into a lower mortality rate. The article also states that, while there is more testing, there is also more cancer being found. Duh!
The American Cancer Society is standing by its guidelines, stating basically that it is better to be over-screened and find cancerous cells than to have no screening practices at all.
Shouldn’t we just be grateful that cancer screening exists? Without it, we would have a much higher cancer mortality rate because cancerous tumors wouldn’t be found until it was too late.
Yes, the screening practices are not perfect and sometimes miss things. Why must we nitpick at this? This is the technology we have right now, and this is what the highest authorities on cancer are saying.
Instead of picking at the current practices, we should be striving to improve technology so we can create something that will not miss anything, although I’m not sure we should expect flawless technology because, as I said, nothing is perfect.
The authors of the AMA journal article stated that we are being over-treated. Wouldn’t you rather be over-treated than under-treated?
Although sometimes the screening techniques cannot differentiate between very dangerous cancers and less dangerous cancers, I would still rather be over-treated so the cancer would be gone; then the less dangerous cancer might not turn into a more fatal form.
It is your choice whether to be screened or not. No one is going to strap you down and force a mammogram on you. The American Cancer Society is merely providing guidelines and suggestions as to when and why screening is necessary.
The organization should continue doing its good work. It recommends what it thinks is best. It is not like the organization is trying to cause cancer; it is trying to cure it and to inform us.
While it may be a hassle to get a mammogram after age 40, or a colonoscopy after age 50, it still beats going through the pain and trauma of having to fight the disease.
If your cancer is caught early, you have a much better chance of surviving. Even if cancer is not found, you are most likely OK and can continue on with your life — knowing you are healthy.
Meghan Kolstad is a sophomore communications major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.