“In February, the Swiss Medical Board recommended that no new systematic mammography screening programs be introduced, that time limits be put on current programs, that screening quality be evaluated, and that women be given clear information regarding benefits and harms.”
Did the Swiss Actually Ban Mammograms? No, but they did suspend their national mammography screening program a decade ago (2014), likely due to the meta-analysis published by Welch & Bleyer in the NEJM in 2012 pointing to a huge problem of overdiagnosing way more women than they were actually saving from lethal lesions! One can still receive mammography screening but no tax dollars are used promoting it as in the United States. The short interview linked below explains the evidence that caused the suspension.
No, the Swiss did not ban mammography, this is an exaggerated rumor floating around the internet, so resist the temptation to forward the memes about it, and certainly don’t tell your doctor it’s a fact because they will laugh and then tell you this: Screening and diagnostic mammography is still available in Switzerland for anyone that wants or needs it; however, no longer does each woman receive a letter in the mail from the government with a mammography screening appointment date and time.
This long-lasting rumor seems to have begun around the same time as a study published last fall in JAMA Oncology which was the real story that should have been raising eyebrows, one in which increased risk of breast cancer appears to be present in those who have false positives at their mammography screenings, and for up to 20 years post false-positive biopsy, their risk is elevated!
The industry’s recommendation? Look more often with the same methodology that has an 80% failure rate. Yes, the U.S.’s average false positive biopsy rate is 80%! Yet quality thermography is not welcome at this biopsy discussion. It’s really disgraceful and medical negligence in my opinion, if not worse...
We envision a future in which the health of the screened individual must not be diminished in any way whatsoever. For breasts, I’d like to see the process begin with thermography to detect thermal markers of concern and then ultrasound technicians would check those marked areas for anything solid resembling a tumor. Only if both modalities showed abnormals would the more harmful methods of imaging be utilized and with a full informed consent from the person receiving the mammogram (radiation accumulation + compression) or MRI (gadolinium contrast that ends up in brains).
The Standard of Scare in the US is that every woman needs a mammogram at least every other year (many doctors prefer to see patients get one EVERY year) between the ages of 40 to 75 or until a decade of life is left (how would one know this?!)
Why aren’t we rethinking screening in this country? We are INCREASING recommendations. Here is an interview of an anti-mammography-screening Norwegian doctor by the NEJM shortly after the Swiss suspended their mammography screening program in 2014.