I just came across an important, new study that every woman in America should hear about…especially those over the age of 60.
It found that women diagnosed with an early form of breast “cancer” may not need to undergo aggressive, disfiguring surgery with radiation. Instead, women diagnosed with this type of breast “cancer” who essentially did nothing but wait had survival rates virtually identical to those who received early, aggressive treatment.
I’ll tell you more about that eye-opening study in a moment. But first, let’s back up to talk about the massive problem of cancer overdiagnosis and overtreatment…
Cancer overdiagnosis and overtreatment is an ongoing problem
For years, I’ve been writing about the epidemic of cancer overdiagnosis and overtreatment in this country. It happens when some “suspicious-looking” cells turn up in a scan or test.
Then, the cells get labeled and aggressively treated as real “cancer”—causing all kinds of excess costs, risks, worries, and dangers. (Not to mention the negative side effects from unnecessary treatments!)
This scenario plays out all too often for cancers related to the skin, thyroid, prostate…and especially the breasts.
In fact, in one recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers estimated that breast cancer was overdiagnosed in 1.3 million women over the past 30 years. And in 2008 alone, breast cancer was overdiagnosed in more than 70,000 women. That number accounts for almost one-third of all breast cancers diagnosed in 2008!
Of course, one of the biggest culprits is something called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Basically, it’s defined as “abnormal” cells discovered within a woman’s milk ducts.
But should such a finding really be called “cancer”?
Probably not.
In fact, as Dr. George Lundberg, my colleague and former editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Medical Association, often stated…
If a pathologic finding of a condition labeled as “cancer” does not spread, does not metastasize to different parts of the body, and does not risk killing the patient, it’s not really cancer. And shouldn’t be labeled as such.
Now, armed with a better understanding of the problems of overdiagnosis and overtreatment, let’s take a closer look at the new study I mentioned at the beginning of this Dispatch…
Women who wait and “do nothing” fare quite well
The new study involved 16,000 women diagnosed with DCIS who sought medical care at more than 1,000 different facilities accredited by the Commission on Cancer. The researchers analyzed the pathology samples and categorized the women according to the treatments they underwent following diagnosis.
Of the total group, about 14,000 women underwent surgical excision of the DCIS—with or without radiation—within the first six months following diagnosis. (This is the “current standard care” for women with DCIS.) And about 2,000 women did not get surgery or treatments and were only monitored. (Women who underwent mastectomy were excluded from the study.)
Then, the researchers waited and watched the women for eight years…
It turns out, overall, the women who underwent surgery had a 3 percent risk of developing invasive breast cancer in those eight years. And the watchful waiting group had a 7.7 percent risk of developing it.
That’s a difference of just 4.7 percent between the two groups. Plus, when the researchers looked specifically at women older than 60 years, the difference was just 3 percent between groups!
The survival rates of both groups of women were quite comparable as well…
The treated women had a 99.7 percent survival rate after eight years. And the untreated group had a 97.4 percent survival rate. The researchers noted that this minor difference in survival could actually stem from other differences between the two groups of women—such as a family history of breast cancer or the presence of another chronic disease, like heart disease.
In their conclusion, the researchers wrote this data suggests there’s a “considerable degree of overtreatment” among women with DCIS.
And I quite agree.
So, if you’ve been given a diagnosis of DCIS, I strongly recommend you talk to your doctor about this new study. Especially if you’re over 60 and prefer not to go through excessive treatments.
But there’s also a lot to consider beyond your age, too. Including your medical history, hormonal status, grade of breast cells, and other factors. Altogether, you and your doctor should be able to determine your risk of developing real, invasive breast cancer.
Because, similar to the many men diagnosed with early prostate “cancer”, women diagnosed with DCIS do quite well with just “active surveillance,” too (without performing painful and disfiguring surgery).
Of course, there are dozens of natural approaches to help prevent all types of cancer in the first place. And I’ve outlined them all in great detail in my groundbreaking online learning tool, my Authentic Anti-Cancer Protocol.
This all-inclusive protocol is the sum total of more than 40 years of personal research, study, and experience in natural cancer treatment. And every solution you’ll hear about has been studied and researched by countless, cutting-edge medical institutions. To learn more about it, or to enroll today, click here now!
Source:
“Ipsilateral invasive cancer risk after diagnosis with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS): Comparison of patients with and without index surgery.” J. Clinical Oncology 2020; 38(15 suppl): 519