‘End the Confusion’: Breast radiologist writes song to inspire women to screen at age 40
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Dana Ataya, MD, has written more than a hundred songs.
Whenever she thinks of a new lyric or melody that may work for another tune, she records it on her phone.
“They’re song seeds,” Ataya, a breast radiologist at Moffitt Cancer Center, told Healio. “I take out my phone, record a little song seed, and then tuck it away for when I get inspired.”
When Ataya started her training, she thought it would be “really cool” to write a song about the importance of breast cancer screening.
She’s had the melody on her phone for “some time,” but she could never find the words to grow it to completion.
“The lyrics were too cheesy,” Ataya said.
That changed at this year’s annual Society of Breast Imaging (SBI) symposium.
Peter R. Eby, MD, chief of breast radiology at Penn Medicine and head of the symposium’s planning committee, made a pitch to Ataya and other members of the committee on the event’s slogan: “40 then. 40 now.”
“It’s SBI’s 40th anniversary, and we all believe in screening at age 40 annually because it saves the most lives,” Ataya said. “Everybody loved it, and I walked away thinking, ‘This is it. 40 then. 40 now. I’m ready to sit down and write the rest of the song.’”
Ataya called the song “End the Confusion,” which emerged from an SBI initiative designed to help women understand when to undergo mammography screening.
She recorded the song with Moffitt’s in-house band, the ReMissions, and released it in October.
“The response has been astounding,” Ataya said. “I’ve had so many people reach out with their stories about how their breast cancer was detected early because they had a mammogram, and how meaningful the song was to them. I’ve had women reach out to me saying, ‘First of all, the song rocks, but now I’m going to go get a screening mammogram.’ I am so humbled by that.
“My hope in writing and releasing this song was to empower women to know their personal risk for breast cancer and inspire them to get screened, and to remind all of us of all the reasons why we take care of ourselves.”
A passion for helping women
Ataya knew at a young age that she wanted to get into medicine.
She grew up in a family of physicians and her mother, Alfida Ramahi, MD, an obstetrics and gynecology specialist, became her role model.
“I saw her take such great empathic care of her patients,” Ataya said. “I grew up looking to her as the superwoman who is so intelligent and so knowledgeable as a physician, but really led with her heart and took care of her patients with empathy.”
Women’s health became Ataya’s passion, and a radiology rotation in medical school inspired her to be a breast radiologist.
“When I saw what a breast radiologist did and how they supported women from detection to diagnosis ... and then also being an emotional support system during that journey, I knew that that was the field for me,” she said.
‘End the Confusion’
The “End the Confusion” music video opens by displaying two sobering statistics: 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and more than 42,250 people will die of the disease this year.
Then the screen reads: “Screening for breast cancer saves lives. Help us spread the message and end the confusion about breast cancer screening.”
Historically, randomized clinical trials have shown screening annually beginning at age 40 years would save the most lives from cancer, Ataya said.
Many guidelines have promoted that message. Others did not, however, instead emphasizing concerns from early screening such as false positives or overdiagnosis.
“There are some studies that overinflate the amount of overdiagnosis,” Ataya said. “We know that when overdiagnosis happens, it’s in the setting of ductal carcinoma in situ only, not invasive cancer. It’s on the order of single-digit percentages, not this overinflated amount.”
The benefits far outweigh any risks, she added.
“If I screen, I find cancer early when it’s easier to treat before it’s spread or metastasized,” Ataya said. “When we screen, it’s not just about saving lives. It’s also about decreasing the morbidity of treatment. If we’re able to find breast cancer early, a woman has an option of a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy. She may or may not need radiation or chemotherapy. Those are things that impact quality of life.”
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force had recommended breast cancer screening at age 50 years for a long time but recently issued a new recommendation statement encouraging screening starting at age 40 years.
However, USPSTF advise biennial screening, not annual.
Ataya said she wants her song to reinforce the importance of screening with women in the face of differing recommendations.
“Forty then, 40 now, yearly then, yearly now, 40 then, 40 now, end the confusion now,” she sings in her song’s chorus.
Her lyrics highlight how women aged 40 years have long lives to live, and screening can help ensure that.
Additionally, screening is for families and loved ones.
“I screen for my daughter, I screen for father, I screen for my son, I screen for my brother, I screen for my sister, I screen for mother ... screen for you, because you make your world go round,” Ataya sings.
Ataya has written other songs she hopes can benefit women’s health, such as “Stage 4 Needs More,” calling for more treatments and funding for women diagnosed with late-stage disease.
“If we detect cancer early, it’s over a 90% 5-year relative survival rate,” Ataya said. “If we detect cancer when it’s metastasized, the 5-year relative survival rate is around 30%. That’s unacceptable to me.”
References:
- Breast cancer radiologist releases song encouraging breast screening. Available at https://www.moffitt.org/endeavor/archive/breast-cancer-radiologist-releases-song-encouraging-breast-screening/. Published Oct. 22, 2024. Accessed Nov. 13, 2024.
- Dana Ataya. “End the Confusion.” Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBpz9xVe1ew. Accessed Nov. 13, 2024.
For more information:
Dana Ataya, MD, can be reached at dana.ataya@moffit.org.
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