Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Re “Mammogram Benefit Seen for Women in Their 40s” (news article, Sept. 30):

I’m not a physician or a research scientist. I have no professional
expertise to speak to the current debate on the benefit of mammogram
screening as a lifesaving tool. What I do know is that a routine
mammogram nearly eight years ago, when I was 45, revealed precisely
those kinds of minimal, non-life-threatening micro-calcifications of
Stage 0 ductal carcinoma in situ that generate so much discussion.

Thank God I’ll never know whether those cells would have ultimately
become something more serious. Screening and diagnosis of the disease at
its earliest possible manifestation meant that I was able to choose
surgical treatment—and regain peace of mind for me and my family.

Merri Rosenberg
Ardsley, N.Y., Oct. 1, 2010