Valley News from Van Nuys, California • Page 21

Ualley News Features Section 3 March 9,1977 Mammography: Risks weighed against benefits This is the third and final installment of a series examining the controversy over breast X-rays and the possibly negative effects of Jt. Today, staff writer Patricia Vane discusses theissue with doctors who believe the slight, possible risk of radiation is well worth the great benefits mammography can yield. By PATRICIA VARIE We take risks every day we live. We drive on freeways, we cross streets, fly in airplanes, eat the food and drink the water. But when it comes to things medical, we begin to distrust and Indications for having mammogram The guidelines established by the American Cancer Society and National Cancer Institute recommend a a screening for all women over 50 years of age since "there is no question that the benefits clearly outweigh any minimal long-term risk from radiation." For women between ages of 35 and 50 mammography should be done for those who are at higher risk of developing breast cancer because they have: Chronic cystic mastitis, with or without pain Lumps and thickening in the breast Nipple discharge or other nipple abnormalities A personal history of breast cancer A family history of breast cancer on the maternal or paternal side A family history of breast cancer in sisters Early onset on menstruta- tion No history of pregnancy First full-term pregnancy at age 30 or older Breast surgery scheduled for diagnostic purposes Fear of breast cancer that requires the reassurance of a negative examination.

Clinicians report that approximately of women between 35 and 50 will belong to one or another of the above groups that can benefit from mammography. (From an article by Arthur I. Holleb MD in "CA-A Cancer-Journal for panic when someone says something about anything. Such is, perhaps, the case of mammography versus no mammography, and the opinions of doctors, radiologists and epidemiologists have been flying everywhere since reports last year that there were indications that radiation from breast X-rays may be doing more harm than good for women under age 50. The latest word comes from Dr.

Benjamin Byrd former (1976) president of the American Cancer Society, surgeon and head of the society's Breast Cancer Task Force. In the March issue of "Reader's Digest," Dr. Byrd said clearly what many doctors have been saying and thinking: "In my opinion, women without symptoms who are 35 and over should have at least one mammogram. If a woman has symptoms or is in a high risk group, her physician may decide that she needs mammography even earlier." It comes as a bit of surprise, mostly because the ACS and the National Cancer Institute last year issued a list of guidelines for who should be considered for mammography. Asymptomatic women, those with no symptoms or high risk factors, were not included as possible candidates.

Indeed, no woman, unless she has a symptom or high risk factor (see adjacent story), under 50 years of age should be exposed 10 the breast X-ray process, according to the guidelines and results of a study done by Dr. Lester Breslow, dean of the UCLA School of Public Health, on the benefit- versus-risk of mammography rays. Dr. Byrd, in his article, believes the benefits outweigh the risks at. any age.

"In mammography, the risk is theoretical and can become evident only in 10-30 years. If a doctor thinks a woman needs a mammogram, or repeated mammograms, he should do them. "We must remember that breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 40 and 44. If mammography can help save the life of a woman who has many years ahead of her. she is also saved for her family and her children." Dr.

Evelyn Wilkinson is a radiologist at the County-USC Medical Center Outpatient Dept. She sees hundreds of women each year, particularly in her work as co-director of the NCI-ACS Breast Cancer Detection Demonstration Project at the county's John Wesley Hospital. "I think the greatest problem lies in the fact that there is a large group of women who insist on mammograms as a part of a routine examination each year, or because they've heard something. "It is this group of women-those with no symptoms or high risk factors--that I think Dr. Breslow is concerned about.

"Many women come in here insisting on breast X-rays. It really is a dilemma for the doctor, because it forces his hand. Before Dr. Breslow's report was released last year, we used to have many young women in their late teens and early 20s coming in." And, although last year she had a 24 and 26year-old who did have cancer, she doesn't agree that women that age should have a mammogram indiscriminately. "But, then, what do you do? There is that small group of very- young girls that has it." It is important, she believes, that women have a "baseline" study, and initial mammogram which can later be used copanson and says it is "the most important thing a radiologist can have for a new study." "There are some mammograms about which we can be sure, whether it be malignant or benign.

But it's that large corridor of unknowns that is difficult. "We see the patients come through and see them worry. It is agonizing for the doctor to put a woman through the expense-emotionally and financially-- of a biopsy. But it has saved lives." Dr. Wilkinson, who notes that the equipment at the center is adjusted regularly by two physicists in order to keep the radiation dose at its effective minimum, is concerned about the women who haven't come back since the "scare" about radiation last year "We have to take our chances with this as with a i There's been no proof that radiation causes cancer and, in fact, we've used it for years to cure cancer.

"Who's to say mammograms may not be stopping it in its infancy rather than starting it?" Women throughout the country, according to spokesmen for the ACS and NCI, did stop going for examinations last year, as many as one-third in some areas. The numbers have improved, but they're not back to normal yet, mainly because of the continuing controversy of over the possible harm of X-rays. It important that women realize that what is set as national policy de the guidelines) is related to what should be done in the individual case, but does not absolutely direct what should be done. Each person is different, and each should make such decisions on her own with the knowledge and help of her physician. Everyone agrees with that.

Risk is a personal thing. It cannot be ordained by the medical profession on a mass scale, and it is not the desire of the majority of doctors to do that anyway. As one doctor said, "As in any profession, there are those who will perform and even encourage breast X-rays to make the money. "That is why it is so important for a woman to see a physician in whom she has confidence One who can follow her case "Women could decide to learn selfexamination and leave it at that. But we've seen how effective mammography has been in detecting early cancers.

"Should a woman wait until her cancer is big enough to be felt, by which time it's often too late?" Dr. Byrd sums it up: "Even if there is a slightly increased risk of her getting the disease in the distant future, there's also an excellent chance that by that time science will have learned to control breast cancer." The hope is always there. That's something everyone has in common Hate your mom? Get a psychic divorce BOB HOFFMAN (ran "after side By ANTOINETTE MAY "I want to talk to you," the dead man said. Bob Hoffman sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He wasn't frightened, merely a bit surprised.

Hoffman, then owner of three tailor shops in Oakland, was used to seeing ghosts. The ability had been triggered 15 years before when he'd received a paranormal warning of his brother's imminent death. As the years passed, Hoffman's psychic abilities increased. Only a few days before his nighttime experience, he had functioned as a psychic go-between for a woman and her deceased lover. "She was really surprised when I described how they used to make love in the kitchen and then went on to list 17 items that she swore could only be known by the dead love," Hoffman recalls.

Apparently these impromptu seances which had become a hobby were merely kindergarten stuff, psychic warm up for the main event that night in 1967. The midnight specter hovering over the bed, Hoffman says, was Dr. Siegfried Fischer, a psychiatrist who had died a few months earlier. The two men had been close friends, despite many lively arguments The doctor simply could not accept the concept of soul survival embraced wholeheartedly by the tailor During one hented debate, Holi- Tmn warned, "Siegfried, you're in your 70s. Chances are you'll go before I do.

One day you'll see that I'm right." Then he added laughingly, "when you wake up and find yourself dead, come back and say hello." Now, it seems, that tune had come. Hoffman explains today that Fischer's mission was far more surprising than his appearance. Hardly were the hellos out of the way before the dead doctor began complaining that psychiatry was failing because doctors were spending too much time delving into the patient's mind, dredging up information that often had no bearing on the problem. This, he believed, did little more than pile up emotional debris that had to be painfully and expensively sorted out. In the spirit world, Fischer had discovered new sources of information which he proposed to share with Hoffman who would then pass them on to others.

Hoffman frankly admits that he wasa poorcandidateforguruship "I was well aware of what a poor husband and father I was." he says. "I didn't really like myself, let alone love myself. I feit insecure, uncertain and often depressed. There had something that would solve 44 years of problems, I was willing to listen. At least he wasn't going to charge $50 an hour.

"Okay, Siegfried," Hoffman toid the departed doctor, "whatever this new technique is, start with me." During the next five hours, the Fischer-Hoffman process was born, an alternative endorsed by many psychiatrists today, and ardently followed by more than who hnve 1" the program at the Sar, Frr.ci^' QuaTwnity Clmc which nan founded Hcffn.3' went on 'o write a book about it. "GeMir.g Divorced From Mom and Dad." E. Dutton Co The five-hour session with Dr. Fischer enabled Hoffman to see the source of his emotional problems a negative attachment to his parents. Psychically he saw, not only episodes from his own childhood that had programmed Then and now- Actress finds business niche CAROLE MATHEWS Operates her own Mathews Travel Center.

In five and a half years. Carole Mathews, actress, high fashion model (Vogue and Harper's Bazaar), Earl Carroll showgirl, radio disc jockey and writer, has developed a travel company into a $2 million a year business. She also maintains Hidden Valley Ranch in Reseda where she raises pigmy goats, Muscovy ducks, chickens, rabbits and breeds worms for casting. It all began when Carole the actress, was chalking up motion picture and television credits by the handful back in the '40s, '50s and '60s. And then her acting career seemed to dead-end as so often happens to some of the industry's talented people.

Carole needed money, so she took a nightime job (to keep herself available for daytime interviews and studio calls) writing brochures for a Hollywood travel agency. She liked it so much, she decided to go into the travel business Besides her Mathew Travel Center and mini ranch, her MM Industries produces audio-visual travelogues and television dramas and Carole writes many of the scripts. With actress-director Ella Gerber, she soon plans to open both a theater in the Valley and a school of acting. With all these good things going for her. Carole Mathews is ready now to re-activate her acting career.

But she says the directors and casting agents are all so young, they don't remember her 'Catch me on the late, late I teil them 'I may be a few years older but the talents the same Born in Aurora, 111, Carole Mathews was reared in Chicago where her statuesque beauty earned her the title "Miss Chicago" (1938) and for a year, she was host of a daily radio show, "Breakfast Time With Carole Mathews" on WGX. She later appeared on Broadway and was awarded the "Stardust Citation" by New York drama critics Vernon Rice and Ward Morehouse. She also starred with Cesar Romero and Mike Connors in stage productions and played a variety of leading ladies at Eltich's Gardens. In motion pictures, she was featured in "Tender Is the Night" with Jennifer Jones and Jason Robards Jr "Meet Me at the Fair" with Dan Dailey. "Look in Any Window," "Betrayed" and many, many more She also starred in a score of Westerns with such noted cowboys as Guy Madison.

Rory Calhoun and Zachary Scott. On television she appeared with Dina Merrill and Cliff Roberston in "Stage '68," and played prominent roles on "Playhouse 90." "Robert Montgomery Presents." "Kraft Theatre," to name a few. Now, at last, giving herself the same attention she gives her travel clients, the talented Carole Mathews once more is traveling on an itinerary that has stardom as its destination. --FRAN ERWIN CAROLE MATHEWS Former "Miss Chicago" and film actress him to be neurotic, unloving and unlovable, but similar scenes in the lives of his father and mother. Hoffman believes this second step to be a historic contribution to behavioral science.

"By psychically reliving the childhood of my parents and observing the same negative programming, my anger turned to compassion and understanding," he say? "As much as I had suffered, they had Buffered far worse from their r.f uns c'airvrx- ant'v vihiV hearing Dr FigxJ.rr i .1 me Hoffman says hr psvchx ly reunited witn Ins parents and was finally abJe 1o exrhangc with them He was helmed by a sense of peare. r.o longer at war with his parents, no longer needing to prove anything nor to carry a grudge "When I finished I understood that Dr Fischer had found the answer to emotional Hoffman says "What he had discovered was not just the cause of our difficulties, but the cause of the cause our parents' chiid- hood experiences." Hoffman didn't produce a do-it- yourself book, merely outlined what he contends is an effective alternative to conventional therapy such as "Go to Hell. Daddy," and 'i Hate You Bitch mav startle reluctant to sa diiythinE neeai.ve thtir Yet. Huffman cites c.ift? of people claim tnev had a rew seise if fretdoTi ana Greater ability to and loved as a resuit of the bitch sessions thai are of the alternative process According to Hoffman, some patients disliked their parents so intently that they were reluctant to enter a program that promised reconciliation. But even they reached a point where they accepted their parents, says Hoffman NEWSPAPER! FW IV.