Earlier that morning, I had gotten a text alert on my phone that the American Cancer Society now calls for women who have an average risk of breast cancer to begin getting annual mammograms at 45, rather than 40, as it used to preach. The organisation also said it no longer recommended clinical breast exams, in which doctors or nurses feel for lumps, for women of any age who have had no symptoms of abnormality in the breasts.
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Meanwhile, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends regular mammograms starting at age 40, while the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force suggests a starting age of 50.
Faye Jackson, a breast cancer survivor, said that women need to know that breast cancer is serious but they do not have to face the diagnosis alone.
Although early detection is key, the American Cancer Society offered new mammogram advice for women with new guidelines published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association that would reduce screenings.
Despite the new mammogram guidelines, it is stressed that breast cancer awareness, including getting a mammogram, is a vital tool in the fight against the disease. The society reasoned that those exams had not been proven to save lives and instead increased the chances for false positives and unnecessary biopsies. In all instances, however, the Cancer Society emphasizes that none of its recommendations are written in stone, and that all such decisions should be made by women and their doctors. Each week in our region there are three or four new patients, and at least one of them will not be able to pay for their treatment costs.
The Afterwards campaign is supported by Elizabeth Hurley, Global Ambassador for The BCA Campaign since 1995, who lost her grandmother to breast cancer. Alternatively, a woman can take a disc with her previous films on it if she needs to go to a new lab or imaging center. Doctors say using tissue – either from a donor or from the woman’s own body – as part of the surgery has its advantages. “I don’t really have a hope for a cure as much as a hope for living a good quality of life”, she said.
Each year, the Iowa Cancer Summit brings together health care providers and patients to discuss better ways to diagnose, treat and prevent the disease. However, women at high risk-those with a family history of cancer, for example-should seek screening earlier and more often.
Many women, both young and old are diagnosed with breast cancer ever year, thus making breast cancer awareness an important campaign.
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40 has been the recommended age to begin screenings but that number has changed.
