White House Cancer Moonshot: Take 2

Hello bOObs Bloggettes:

On Wednesday, the White House announced they are going to take up their “Cancer Moonshot” program for a second time — and with an updated agenda that aligns with “bOObs” mission. The original Moonshot program was undertaken in 2016 by the then-VP in memory of his son who died of brain cancer. Most of the $1.8 billion in funding spent over those 7 years went to immunotherapy (which strangely seems to have disappeared from news headlines). However the goal of this new Moonshot is more specific in some ways and branched out in others.

The overall goal is to reduce the cancer death rate by at least 50% over the next 25 years, and to “improve the experience of living with and surviving cancer.” Two laudable goals.

In consideration of the first part of that goal, allowing women the choice of their screening tools might be one way to reduce the breast cancer death rate. As we’ve discussed in previous blogs, today’s use of the only primary screening tool mammography ends in many false positives and negatives. We’ve also pointed out in this blog that researchers are concerned that many breast cancers may have actually been caused by the radiation in and compression by the screening tool of mammography itself.

The one thing I hear over and over from women is this: “Why can’t I skip the radiation-based screening tool mammography and go right to an ultrasound? They always make me get an ultrasound anyway!” (See my blog on this, but short answer is that it’s because mammography, deemed as the only “primary screening tool,” has to be performed before an “adjunctive” test such as ultrasound or MRI or thermography).

Ladies, this needs to change and the White House should hear our voices on this issue! Using a radiation device to screen for cancer while at the same time possibly creating cancer makes absolutely no sense at all.

And women with dense breast tissue (DBT) (90% of us have some degree of DBT) are getting messed over twice: First, mammograms miss a lot of their BC because DBT and cancer both appear white on a mammogram’s Xray; second, the radiation tech has to crank up the radiation going through the dense breast during mammography in order to find any possible cancer, so these women with their radiation-sensitive DBT are actually getting MORE radiation which increases their chance for radiation-induced cancer (see previous blog on all of this).

Then there are the women that have been or will be diagnosed with the precancerous condition of Stage 0 DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ). The literature says that these non-cancer “cancers” are being over-diagnosed and women are being frightened into getting treatments like a lumpectomy, a mastectomy and/or radiation therapy. So instead of jumping right into treatment, why not switch these women over to ultrasound and/or thermography and track their conditions through the years with non-radiative modalities — versus continuing to radiate and compress their breasts via mammography which could cause the precancerous condition to become invasive cancer?

It’s time to give women the choice (in consultation with their doctors) of which screening tool(s) is best for them without having only one choice of a primary BC screening tool. This needs to change!

Together our voices are strong. Watch this space for future action items.

Blog at you soon, thanks for reading and helping to spread the word!  (Please see the “share” links below.)  And we’d love to hear comments from you! (see below as well)

Stay healthy,

Megan

Megan Smith, M.S.
Director, bOObs: The War on Women’s Breasts

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